Lean on me
I’ll be there
Whenever you need someone
To share in every prayer
In every dream
You’ve left somewhere
Till tomorrow
Will be just like it was when we were young
‘Cos tonight
I’m gonna take you where
I’ve never taken you before
Lean on me
I’m everywhere
Wherever you look I’ll be
Forever yours
The northern lights
The southern cross
I’ll give to you
Till tomorrow
Will be just like it was when we were young
‘Cos tonight
I’m gonna take you where
I’ve never taken you before
If you’re lonely
You know where you can find me
You know there’s no escape when you are on your own
And if you’re worried
And you can see your world slip through your fingers
I’ll reach out for you in my heart
There’s no more dancing in the dark.

I remember listening to the Moody Blues ever since my cousin Pierre brought their album A Question of Balance to our family home. That could also have been a pertinent title for today’s world. I want to promote a caring message, which is indispensable for a population desperately in need of healing.

Both in France and the USA, I sense a desire to lean on someone for protection. In some cases this desire is fulfilled, while other people feel they are left stranded, unattended. I can be completely cynical when it comes to political leaders, questioning the real motives behind what they say and do. During the weather crisis the state of Texas recently experienced, there were people you could lean on and people who were absent. In France right now, more and more professions feel totally abandoned, including musicians and performing artists in general. A foreigner new to France and feeling lost may be longing for a reassuring presence, a person who protects and guides, whom one can lean on and feel safe with. Too often, the quest for reassurance leads to horrendous situations, with such people falling victim to crooks.

PREFECTURE SCHEDULES AND LUCRATIVE APPOINTMENT TRAFFICKING
For several years there have been complaints about appointments with prefectures regarding immigration status being difficult to secure. The CODIV-19 pandemic has forced all prefectures to restructure their system for handling the public and issuing appointments. The system is quite complicated, for several reasons. Schedules are established at the last minute, so the first available appointment is often after the expiration date of the document needing renewal. Prefecture websites may work well with a particular browser one day but not the next. For example, I have stopped using Safari to get on these websites, as Firefox seems slightly more reliable.

Furthermore, appointments for some types of immigration status seem to be harder to secure than others, perhaps because the number of people trying exceeds the website capacity. People working at the Paris prefecture acknowledge that this is the case. Someone determined to get through may need to block a couple of hours for the task.

Beyond these issues, the current design of the system has led to a particular situation that often makes it impossible for an individual to get an appointment. An article in Le Monde explains that well-informed crooks snatch all available appointments as they are released. Then they sell them to individuals. Undocumented aliens (sans-papiers) may be especially vulnerable; under French law, some of them have the right to submit a request for a legal stay in France if they meet strict guidelines. They may not have the hours it takes to get an appointment, or they lack access to a computer, and so on. Of course, the crooks offer their services to anyone who cannot get an appointment any other way.

In my July-August 2019 issue, titled Father & Son, I wrote about a similar criminal scheme. Such situations make me really angry. I help people who fully qualify for procedures at the prefecture. They often spend about six months trying to get an appointment before giving up and paying for one. I strongly condemn the crooks who steal appointments to sell. And yet I fully understand that some foreigners feel they have no choice but to use such a scheme, given their risk of being caught by police – especially now, with a pandemic curfew being strictly enforced and people often working odd hours. Getting a legal stay sooner rather than later is critical for such people.

A full translation of the Le Monde article is attached, in hopes that the information will circulate as much as possible. Here is the link to the original article published on February 13th 2021: 
www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2021/02/13/titres-de-sejour-le-trafic-lucratif-des-rendez-vous_6069858_3224.html

Lucrative-appointment-trafficking-translation-PB.doc

URSSAF AND THE TAX OFFICE INCREASINGLY SHARE INFORMATION
The French and US tax systems are so different it can be difficult to explain to Americans how the French one works.

I will not go into the history of the French social system that was set up after WWII, with endless variations on health coverage and retirement per profession. President Macron has pushed a general policy of unifying the retirement program, which has led to violent demonstrations in the streets of Paris for the last three years or so.

Retired foreigners living in France saw one change quite vividly, as it affected them directly. When covered by the public system in the old days with theCouverture Maladie Universelle (CMU), the insured person would file an annual declaration with URSSAF so the 8% premium on worldwide income could be calculated.

In 2016, the Protection Universelle Maladie (PUMA) was set up to replace the CMU. One of the most problematic differences with the old system was that URSSAF now gets its information from the tax office to calculate the 8% premium. The way it was calculated also changed, which resulted in a difficult situation for many foreigners living in France.

It is a huge oversimplification, but I tell my clients that the centre des impôts is like the IRS and URSSAF is like the Social Security Administration. They are always amazed, as they are used to seeing the two American organizations working together, while their French equivalents pretty much ignored each other until recently – and that was better than the old days, when they distrusted each other to the point of never sharing information

A milestone will soon be reached in this regard. In May 2021, when it is time to declare income in France, self-employed people will only declare their income once, to the tax office. Starting with 2020 revenue, URSSAF will get the information from the tax office and there will no longer be any need to make two declarations. In short, the Déclaration Sociale des Indépendants (DSI) is no longer needed.

A recent URSSAF statement says: “A partir de cette année, vous n’aurez plus qu’une seule déclaration à faire pour la déclaration de vos revenus 2020 sur impots.gouv.fr. C’est cette déclaration unique qui sera utilisée pour le calcul de vos cotisations et contributions sociales personnelles et de votre impôt sur le revenu.”

Here is a translation of the complete press release:
“From this year, you will have only one declaration to make to declare your 2020 income on impots.gouv.fr. This single declaration will be used to calculate your personal social contributions and your income tax. The income that serves as the basis for personal social contributions will be entered directly in your personal income tax return (declaration No. 2042). It will be supplemented by a specific “social” component. In the 2020 income statement, specific sections have been provided to allow you to declare your eligibility for contribution reductions set up in the context of the health crisis (first period of health emergency in spring 2020 and second period of health emergency in autumn 2020). Once your tax return has been validated, the necessary elements will be sent automatically by the tax administration to your Urssaf or Cgss. As in previous years, upon receipt of the elements of your 2020 tax return, your Urssaf or Cgss will adjust your 2021 provisional contributions and regularize your final 2020 contributions. It will also send you a payment schedule update, which will take into account the exemption from contributions under the reduction mechanisms put in place in the context of the health crisis, if you are eligible. Urssaf or Cgss remains your contact for the management and payment of your personal social contributions.”

WIDESPREAD USE OF TEXT MESSAGES FOR SECURITY 
I remember when my bank first added a second level of security for access to accounts online – issuing a payment, transferring money – by sending a text message to my cellphone so I could be identified a second time. I particularly like this feature when I make purchases on a website, as it reduces the chance of fraud. It might make sense to force as many merchants as possible to include this feature on their sites. I fully understand that this is as much an issue with the bank as it is with the merchant, except the bank has an interest in limiting fraud, which costs it money.

Many merchant sites now also have this feature to enter the site if you have a personal account with them. It would be an exaggeration to say it is becoming a standard feature, but it feels like it is nearly one. Maybe I will get used to it someday, or manufacturers will find a way to have the computer and phone talk to each other automatically – who knows?

Recently this mundane procedure took on epic proportions because of a last-minute change of policy and COVID-19 preventing people from traveling. One of my clients was on a mission in Eastern Europe. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the stay to be extended for many months past the client’s scheduled return to France. This client, like several of my American clients, does not have a French cellphone, as their American phones can be used worldwide. Pretty much overnight, their bank added the text security feature for access to their accounts. This meant the client had to buy a French phone or at least a SIM card, and give the French number to the bank.

To make a long, complicated story shorter, about this client, I bought a pay-per-use SIM card and activated the number so any phone could use it. Then I mailed the SIM card across most of Europe so the client could put it in his phone when connecting with the bank. Registering the phone number with the bank was the true challenge, but finally it got done. The final episode would be laughable if it had not been a serious problem. My client needed printed bank statements, and he could not have access to them due to some technical glitch with the SIM card. His CPA needed them to prepare tax declarations. The bank demanded an original signature on a letter requesting that the statements be printed, and charged a hefty price for this service. The last straw was that it would only send them to the client’s Paris address. Thus I had to pick up that letter, scan the documents and send them to the client. Some rules to safeguard clients’ interests take us back a century!

Another bank offered a different solution to the cellphone problem. It agreed to send the security text messages to a US phone number, for an extra charge of $5 a month. The client concerned has a French cellphone but it does not receive text messages from France. I can see this becoming a serious problem for clients who are outside France most of the time, and the many who are stuck abroad because of the pandemic.

As my client said to me, “with the continued need to use a double verification process for banking and other accounts, this might be worth mentioning … in one of your next columns. Not everyone who does banking in France has a French phone and can receive text messages from other countries without adding this feature to their accounts. Granted it is $5 extra per month but worth it.”

UPDATE ABOUT THE FRENCH SANITARY STATE OF EMERGENCY
Note that the state of emergency due to the pandemic has been extended until June 1st: “Face à l’aggravation de la propagation de l’épidémie de Covid-19, l’état d’urgence sanitaire en place depuis le 17 octobre 2020 est prolongé jusqu’au 1er juin 2021 inclus. Initialement, il devait prendre fin le 16 février 2021. La loi prorogeant l’état d’urgence sanitaire est parue au Journal officiel le 16 février 2021.

(Faced with the worsening spread of the Covid-19 epidemic, the health state of emergency in place since October 17th, 2020 has been extended until June 1st, 2021, inclusive. Initially, it was to end on February 16th, 2021. The law extending the health state of emergency was published in the Journal officiel on February 16th, 2021.

FOREIGN RENTAL INCOME DECLARED IN FRANCE
Paris being one of the touristic hubs of the world, there are numerous foreigners owning apartments here and renting them through Airbnb and similar organizations. I have referred to this many times in past columns: rental income earned in France is declared and taxed in France even when the owner is not a French fiscal resident. It is then declared to the IRS as income already taxed.

One of my clients, however, has properties she rents in the USA and declares in France as income already taxed. She lives and files in France as a French fiscal resident. She recently received a letter from URSSAF that stunned me. It took me some time to understand what had happened.

The letter asked for her SIRET number, a French ID number for a person running a business. My client is retired, holds a visitor’s carte de séjour and has never registered a business in France. The request had to have originated somehow with the French administration. My client’s American rental income had surged last year, to the point that it went over the threshold that would force this type of registration if the rentals were in France. The system must have undergone a serious malfunction, taking the American income as French, and acted accordingly. Once identified, the problem was easy to fix.

I am more familiar with a different computer bug, whereby the French tax office tries to collect the CSG-CRDS taxes on American income declared in France. That bug was identified well over 10 years ago and is now rare. I still see it, but much less frequently.

CESC PARIS HAS INVITED ME TO SPEAK ON MARCH 1st VIA ZOOM
The Council for the English Speaking Community in Paris (CESC Paris) first invited me to speak in September 2003. Then and now the topic is “Non-profits in France.” I will cover the legal and practical issues that non-profits [often] encounter. My experience as a member of several non-profits, including holding the post of vice-president for one of them, adds first-hand knowledge to my training as a juriste droit économique and to what I have learned while advising non-profits as part of my consulting activity.

Here is the announcement the CESC put out:
Dear CESC Paris Community,
Are you the head of a non-profit association? Our guest speaker will be Jean Taquet and our next meeting is going to focus on the loi 1901, questions about running non-profit associations and some of the current or ongoing issues we are experiencing due to the fallout from Covid 19 pandemic. We won’t be able to answer all your questions, but the idea is to gauge areas of interest and concern and then organize further discussions with more experts within and outside of the CESC community to help facilitate these discussions in the coming weeks and months.

MY BUSINESS HAS A NEW FACEBOOK PAGE
Over the holidays, my assistant, Sarah, took an interesting initiative and created a new Facebook page. It is a good move for her, since she and I both moderate it. She can show off her expertise and her ability to give good advice and clearly explain solutions. She does this in French, leaving the queries in English to me.

Since I am already active in a few Facebook groups and my website is my main showcase, I did not feel I needed such a page. On the other hand, it should no doubt benefit her sooner than later.

You are welcome to join:
https://www.facebook.com/rattachement

SUMMER VACATION: THE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED JULY 9th to AUGUST 23rd
The office will be closed for a month and a half, starting Friday, July 9th, and reopening on Monday, August 23rd. As always, I will be reachable by email for emergencies and important matters. My service of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed.

Best regards,

QUESTION

ASKING FOR A VISA DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

There appears to be much discrepancy between VFS Global and the Washington DC embassy regarding requests for the passeport talent visa. This status appears to be the only way to obtain a real immigration visa that is renewable, and valid up to four years, with work permits from the get-go. VFS says one thing; the embassy says something different. For example, many individuals who are choosing between all the “flavors” of passeport talent might be self-employed, working as authors, artists, sometimes with a national or international reputation in a specialized field, and often holding high-level degrees, diplomas, etc. Yet it appears that the embassy wants French contracts, French employment by French companies with French clients, etc. If you do not have any of these, you can apply for a long-term visitor visa… but this visa is not currently available due to COVID restrictions. On the other hand, VFS says that those who can prove sufficient funding through forms, documents, etc. and who are working on a project that benefits France in some way, can apply for the passeport talent.
What happens if your visa is rejected? All that work and time preparing your move – selling cars, furniture, looking for lodging in a country that appears to have an incoherent visa policy. If France is serious about accepting talented folks to improve the community, then perhaps the administration needs to take these passeport talents visas seriously and get to work vastly improving their horrendous ‘system’.

QUESTION

WHAT DOES A PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT COVER?

I moved here for my French fiancé, and in doing so, I gave up a very lucrative career. My fiancé owns a company and some real estate in France. His real estate company owns the home in which we plan to live in after the marriage. He wants me to sign a marriage contract stating that all property before and after the marriage remains separated. I am not in agreement after giving up a really well-paid job to relocate and I know I will not be able to earn nearly as much in France without speaking the language.
My fiancé owns 99% of real estate company; the other 1% belongs to his mother. Is there a way to write up a contract to have equal “shares” of our future family home? Can we transfer the real estate company in part into my name to avoid having to purchase shares?
Is there a way to edit the marriage contract to say that I would not get any of his principal business but just half of the family home? Can any of the three types of marriage contracts in French be adjusted or they are straight boilerplate documents with unchangeable terms?
My next question is whether it would be possible to draft a separate document that would provide some sort of financial security – an agreement to get a sum of money in case of divorce or the transfer of half the family home in spite of the fact that it is owned by the company rather than by my fiancé – simply for investing sweat equity in building a family with him and making improvements towards the family home, etc.

I would like to wish all of you a great summer
and a very nice vacation;
I will start mine in about three weeks

Father & Son
Cat Stevens

It’s not time to make a change,
Just relax, take it easy
You’re still young, that’s your fault,
There’s so much you have to know
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry
Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy
I was once like you are now, and I know that it’s not easy,
To be calm when you’ve found something going on
But take your time, think a lot,
Why, think of everything you’ve got
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not
How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again
It’s always been the same, same old story
From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen
Now there’s a way and I know that I have to go away
I know I have to go
It’s not time to make a change,
Just sit down, take it slowly
You’re still young, that’s your fault,
There’s so much you have to go through
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry
Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy
All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside,
It’s hard, but it’s harder to ignore it
If they were right, I’d agree, but it’s them you know not me
Now there’s a way and I know that I have to go away
I know I have to go

The song “Father and Son” was recorded on Cat Stevens’s fourth album, Tea for the Tillerman, released in 1970.

The choice of this title is very unusual. I was discussing the previous title, “Hard-Headed Woman”, with a longtime friend of mine who did not know the artist or song. We were talking about what defines a “hard-headed woman”, how it can be a compliment for a woman today, and so on. As a person of conservative Asian origin, she felt uneasy about this term being applied to her as a compliment..

Looking at all the songs on the same album, Tea for the Tillerman, she picked “Father and Son”, saying she felt a lot closer to it and especially to the lyrics. She added, “This should be the title of your next issue.”

It has been a challenge as well as a difficult exercise to start drafting everything through this prism, instead of drafting first and finding a title that can unify the patchwork my column has always been.

I would like to thank you, my friend, for putting me to this test. After all, this is summertime and I am writing while on a road trip.

AN UPDATE ABOUT THE CHANGE OF RESIDENCE CERTIFICATE
I just received a message from a client about the outcome of an issue with the French consulate in Los Angeles.
Since our last correspondence, the Los Angeles office of the French Consulate has issued us a certificat de changement de résidence. They sent it with a note that this was an exception. However, we did notice they have changed the information on their website to state that you can apply for the certificat even if you are a foreigner. So, we will hope for the best for moving our Alfa Romeo, and will check into getting a tax certificate as indicated in your most recent newsletter. I love the newsletter. Your Hard-Headed Woman article is terrific.”

NEW LAW AFFECTING THE TENANT-LANDLORD RELATIONSHIP
The Loi Elan, passed in November 2018, changed a lot of things. I would like to focus on the rental side of the law. It has been said it seems to remedy some of the negative consequences of the crackdown on short-term Airbnb-type vacation rentals. I tend to disagree with this analysis, as it worsens the penalties and controls. On the other hand, it creates a specific lease that maintains the French approach to the tenant-landlord relationship while addressing the trend of people wanting to stay longer term.

Bail mobilité
The most interesting new provision is probably the,i> bail mobilité, a lease for between one and ten months that can be renewed once as long as the total stay is not be more than ten months. It only applies to furnished apartments.

The following provisions in particular that show this is not Airbnb competition:

• 1 – There is no security deposit, and the rent can be freely set as long as it stays within the rent control of the city, where applicable. Also, the lease itself must state why this type of lease is needed.
• 2 – If the rental goes past ten months, it becomes a normal furnished apartment lease lasting nine months for student tenants and one year for others.

Rent control
As mentioned above, rent control in Paris has been reinstated for a five-year test period. The administration sets a maximum that depends on location, size and a few other conditions.

Further crackdown on Airbnb-type rentals
As you will see the controls will be increased and the sanctions will be stiffened

Any private individual who does not declare such a rental to the city can be fined up to 5,000€, and failure to report the number of nights booked carries a fine of up to 10,000€.

If the booking website does not comply with its legal obligations – by, for instance, publishing properties without the city-issued registration number or neglecting to report the number of nights booked – it can be fined as much as 50,000€.

Definition of decent lodging now covers pests such as bedbugs
Infestation of apartments by vermin has become increasingly common. The normal regulation states that the tenant takes the apartment as is, and is responsible for what happens in it. Tenants often discover infestations quickly but until now, when they reported it, the owner could disclaim any responsibility.

Domestic abuse victims can leave without being liable for rent
It is difficult to find the right balance between the landlord’s right to be paid rent and a domestic abuse victim’s need to flee for her life and cut all ties with her previous life, including paying rent for a place where she no longer lives.

The law lays out guidelines for such cases. The woman is off the hook if she produces a restraining order from a judge or the record of the perpetrator’s conviction. At first sight this might seem to be of little help for the victim. But French court procedures are quite slow and can be stalled enough to get documentation. I am pretty sure that when the woman presses charges and the criminal justice system starts a procedure against the perpetrator, the landlord will go easy on collecting the money. The debt will be dissolved, legally speaking, when the above-mentioned documents are filed with the landlord.

I have no idea how the Loi Elan is going to affect landlords and agencies or how they will react. The bail mobilité will be easy to abuse, so I hope some provision for oversight is being made. I am sure that nonprofits dealing with domestic violence are preparing procedures and are training staff and volunteers to systematically make sure that this provision is properly followed. I hope the testing that landlords are supposed to carry out before renting will now include various types of infestation.

More generally, the Civil Code used to refer to normally expected behavior, exonerating a person from liability, as en bon père de famille, which literally meant “like a good father” but essentially translated as “reasonably”, the word now used (since 2014). When a law creates a new right, such as that implied by thebail mobilité, and there are no precedents, the lower courts often base their rulings on this concept.

BOOKING AN APPOINTMENT WITH MOST PREFECTURES
An article in Le Monde on June 1st carried the title Titres de séjour : le prospère business de la revente de rendez-vous en préfecture .

The article
Residence permits: the successful business of reselling appointments in the prefecture.
These days, the business of making appointments at the prefecture to apply for a residence permit is flourishing.

This formality, which has long fed endless lines of foreigners in front of the prefectures, is increasingly done online. At least half the departments in France have developed paperless procedures, which have led to physical waiting lines being immediately replaced by virtual ones. The gray-market appointment resale system had only to be brought up to date with digital technology.

“For the prefecture of Bobigny, count 15 euros for a request for renewal of a residence permit,” announces the young salesman of a shop, who in a few days and as many clicks can get an appointment for the start of the 2019 school year, while for the average person no available slots have appeared for more than six months.

For those who can’t go to a shop, there are plenty of solutions on the Internet. “Limited offer – first come, first served!” “Appointments available at very low prices!” “Only 35 euros!” On Facebook, pages are springing up and their purpose is unequivocal: “SOS prefecture appointment,” “Exceptional appointment for admission to stay,” “Getting an appointment for naturalization.” A business approach is taken for granted: “If you sponsor six people, you can have your appointment for free,” promises one site. “And we don’t forget those who … want to help! You’ll get a really tempting commission!”

The administrator of one such page explains: “The prefecture opens weekly time slots, but there are so many requests that after five minutes everything is full.” He and other intermediaries take this congestion as an opportunity to exercise their computer skills. “We have a program that automatically checks free slots, and when they appear, we register you,” says another Facebook page administrator. “First, we register you, and then you pay.”

The service is generally priced between 15€ and 200€, depending on the prefecture, the papers requested and the reseller. The Ministry of the Interior is aware of the gray market and ensures that “the facts are reported to the courts.” In early 2019, the Bobigny and Nanterre prosecutors’ offices opened investigations – a drop in an ocean of informal-sector resourcefulness, which feeds on the scarcity of appointment offers.

“The problem is the lack of slots made available,” says Nicolas Klausser, who is responsible for residence issues at Cimade [a nonprofit that works with refugees and undocumented foreigners]. “The administration does not have sufficient resources and foreigners suffer as a result.” In 2018, Cimade accompanied foreigners several times in administrative courts to denounce the public service dysfunction and force prefectures to register title applications.

In France, 3 million people hold residence permits. They may have to apply for renewal of papers, naturalization or a travel document, or exchange a foreign driver’s license for a French one, and so on. In addition to these people there are those apply for regularization of their status. The Ministry of the Interior does not deny the administrative overload exists but admits it does not know how to “statistically estimate the number of people who fail to get access to the prefectures.”

In November 2015, Cimade began developing a bot that evaluates service congestion hourly. The results can be striking. On the Cergy prefecture website, since December 2018, no bot test has managed to identify a slot to request renewal of a residence permit. In Meaux, no bot test has succeeded since December 2017. The same applies throughout April in Nanterre for naturalization applications, in Bobigny for exceptional residence permit applications. “There is no free time slot for your appointment request. Please try again later,” says the prefecture. And so on, in Metz, Strasbourg, Toulouse, etc.

Mariam is a member of the invisible contingent frantically refreshing a prefecture web page on the lookout for a slot – in vain. In France since 2013, the Guinean mother has been trying to get an appointment in Seine-Saint-Denis to ask for regularization of her status. Two or three times a month, she goes to Bobigny to seek information from prefecture officials. “Once, in the queue, there was a man who said he was a lawyer and offered to help me, for 1,000 euros to be paid in several installments,” she says.

Tati, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been trying to make an appointment at the prefecture for six months to apply for an illness-related residence permit because her son has sickle-cell anemia. “The lines were long, but I knew in the morning if I was going to get in. With the new system, I’m constantly on my phone. I wake up every night too. I’m exhausted,” she sighs. She heard about the gray market schemes that are proliferating, but never wanted to take the plunge.

Klausser of Cimade points out that people who fail to renew their papers face “major problems of disruption of their right to work or social benefits.” Those trying to regularize their situation run a risk of expulsion.

Oksüz was one of the latter group. We met him during a visit to the Mesnil-Amelot (Seine-et-Marne) administrative detention centre in early May. A Turk who had been living in France for twenty years, he was arrested at a construction site and detained. “I work in the construction industry as a carpenter or mason,” he assured Le Monde. “I am on permanent contract and have had pay slips since 2015.” As he met the criteria for possible regularization, he had tried – but failed – to make an appointment.

The Ministry of the Interior recognizes that “we can do much better, even if there is no magic formula.” An upper level civil servant at the ministry said, “In the long term, solutions must be found to simplify procedures.”

As early as 2015, a report by the Inspection Générale de l’Administration [which oversees the ministry] called for rationalization and simplification of the administrative process for reception of foreigners. “In the short term, we are trying to give the prefectures some fresh air by allowing them to recruit agents,” but there is a risk of these new resources being co-opted to meet other needs. “Credential services are stripped of personnel to cope with an increasing workload,” the ministry acknowledges. In 2018, the prefectures had to deal with a 20% increase in asylum applications and a 30% increase in the number of expulsion orders.
End of article

The Napoleonic vision was that the state had an iron fist to protect the population from wrongdoing, and this was the basis for a criminal justice system favoring the prosecution. In the 20th century, the successful fight for individual rights in virtually all possible domains severely weakened the mighty power of the state over the people. Many rightly see this as unquestionable progress. But as the prefecture procedure shows, some problems in France stem from the fact that the system continues to be structured around the type of power it used to have, and efforts to find a quick fix seldom solve the problem but instead just hide it from view. The absolute power that fathers had over their wives and children is long gone and the current balance of parents’ authority over their children is a good thing. A more democratic system is a good thing. Ascertaining the authority that the state has over the people, so that the state offers fair and equal service and protection, should be the duty of the system. I believe the French government and administration currently fall short in many instances.
www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2019/06/01/titres-de-sejour-le-business-de-la-revente-de-rendez-vous-en-prefecture-prospere_5470146_3224.html

WHETHER TO HAVE A CONCIERGE THE DILEMMA FACING PARISIAN CONDOMINIUM OWNERS 
Is it better to have a concierge (gardien/ne d’immeuble) or not? This question can lead to hours of discussion at the annual general meeting of the copropriété, the co-ownership group of most every condo apartment building.

The classic situation is that the concierge lives on the ground floor in a space called the loge and keeps an eye on everyone who enters and leaves the building (even though this has never been their official job), watching from behind the curtained door at the bottom of the stairs. They are in charge of cleaning and light maintenance in the common areas, and in buildings lacking mailboxes they distribute the post.

Over the past 40 years or so, I can identify three very different periods in the way the concierge was viewed. Initially no one thought of getting rid of them, as they were doing their job. Then, about 30 years ago, there was a trend of getting rid of them, for several reasons.

First, social charges had significantly increased, so employing them cost more than hiring a cleaner. Second, even though the loge was tiny, it was worth a lot of money if sold at market value. Finally, French labor law, combined with the legal protection of the domicile (which the loge certainly qualified as), made concierges virtually impossible to fire even when they did not do their job at all. So, as concierges retired, the loges were sold and a new industry developed: contractors specialized in cleaning Parisian buildings’ hallways, staircases and courtyards, and putting out the garbage bins.

Then about ten years ago I started to hear a completely different tune. Even companies that do an excellent job can never compare with the scope of the work a concierge does just by virtue of living at the bottom of the stairs. Many tenants leave a set of apartment keys with them so that meter reading can always be done and the person is never locked out of their home. Parcel delivery, which has grown enormously with Amazon and other online retailers, is a nightmare if it cannot be done during business hours. The concierge often also does cleaning and/or babysitting for a few tenants in the building and the proximity makes everything easier. Last but not least, buildings with a concierge suffer a significantly lower burglary rate than those without because the presence of a person scrutinizing everyone coming and going deters burglars.

Today, the real estate market puts a premium of about 10% on having a concierge. This is definitely something to think about when seeking to rent or buy an apartment in Paris or other major French cities. The court case detailed in this Le Monde blog illustrates the new trend very well. I hope this explanation makes it easier and more interesting to read.
http://sosconso.blog.lemonde.fr/2019/01/10/copropriete-comment-supprimer-ou-conserver-le-poste-de-concierge-3/#more-22830

SUMMER VACATION: THE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED FROM JULY 19 TO AUGUST 19
The office will be closed for one month starting Friday, July 19, reopening on Monday, August 19. As always, I will be reachable by e-mail for emergencies and important matters. My service of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed.

MY FEES WILL GO UP ON OCTOBER 1st 2019
I plan to change some aspects of my business when I reopen the office on Monday, August 19th. The main reason is to allow my assistant to do some tasks more systematically. One of them is to accompany the clients to the prefecture, URSSAF, CPAM and other public offices. She already handles most of the dealings with the offices where self-employed people are registered. She has also accompanied my clients to the prefecture several times. As her fees are lower than mine, this should compensate for the increase in my fees. On October 1st, I will raise my initial retainer from 270€ to 300€ and the hourly rate from 110€ to 130€.

Best regards,

QUESTION

THE LANDLORD’S RIGHT TO VISIT RENTED PREMISES

Less than two months into a one-year lease, my landlady in Australia notified me that due to changed family circumstances she wanted me to vacate the apartment right away. I balked. At about same time, the key in the apartment lockbox was removed. I consulted with a lawyer at ADIL in the 17th. They say the lease is valid, and the notice does not follow the proper notification process, so there is no reason to vacate, nor to take the walk-through meeting with the owner, who was passing through Paris. I also learned that taking the extra key was a criminal offense. I notified the owner of all of the above via e-mail, noting that using a key to enter without my permission is an additional criminal offense. I taped a note on the door in French and in English, reiterating all this. When I came back, the note had been removed and jammed under the door. I assume that someone entered the apartment again. Any idea about the best next steps? I am a poor French speaker, and over 65.

QUESTION

AUTO-ENTREPRENEUR AND CARTE DE SEJOUR

I have one simple question: Can Americans on student visas set up as auto-entrepreneurs? I ask because at our school in Toulouse we have a lot of Americans who would like to do our course to learn to be teachers, then work for language schools teaching English. They would do all this while studying French, so they arrive with the visa d’étudiant. I know they can work around 20 hours a week , but the problem is that language schools are no longer giving CDD contracts, they only take on auto-entrepreneurs.

I would like to wish all of you a great summer
and a very nice vacation;
I will start mine in about three weeks

From Wikipedia
“The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical drama film produced and directed by Robert Wise, and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, with Richard Haydn and Eleanor Parker. Based on the memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp, the film is about a young Austrian woman studying to become a nun in Salzburg in 1938 who is sent to the villa of a retired naval officer and widower to be governess to his seven children. After bringing and teaching love and music into the lives of the family through kindness and patience, she marries the officer and together with the children they find a way to survive the loss of their homeland through courage and faith.

Maria Augusta von Trapp (January 26th 1905 – March 28th 1987), also known as Baroness von Trapp, was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. She wrote The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, which was published in 1949.

After performing at a festival in 1935, they became a popular touring act. They experienced life under the Nazis after the Anschluss, i.e., the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, which took place on March 12, 1938. Life became increasingly difficult as they witnessed hostility towards Jewish children by their classmates, the use of children against their parents, and finally by the induction of Georg into the German Navy. They visited Munich in the summer of 1938 and encountered Hitler at a restaurant. In September, the family left Austria and traveled to Italy, then to England and finally the United States. The Nazis made use of their abandoned home as Heinrich Himmler’s headquarters.”

The American media is buzzing and it feels like every hour there is a new tweet, a new statement. Comparisons are made, and the people offended express their indignation.

I use comparison to explain things, to help people understand foreign concepts and so on. It is now common to hear comparisons of what is happening in the USA to the period mentioned above.

From a technical and historical point of view, I find these comparisons inaccurate, even though I believe asylum seekers are by definition covered by the Geneva Convention and therefore can exercise their rights to ask for asylum in whatever country they choose. Considering such people criminals is wrong from a legal point of view, and it is wrong to persecute them.

The Trapp family’s final destination was the USA. They ended up living in Morrisville, Vermont. My wife and daughter can sing the soundtrack of this movie from beginning to end. I know the movie quite well and like everybody else I enjoy the sweet and/or comic scenes which constitute the vast majority of it. One character often overlooked is the father, Georg von Trapp. He is part of the Austrian aristocracy, a senior officer in the Austrian armed forces. He is as strict and stiff as an old-fashioned father can be, even according to the standards of that time. When he is told to go along with the flow and remain quiet, he rebels, and he publicly denounces the loss of Austrian sovereignty. The consequence is that the entire family has to flee the country to seek asylum elsewhere. The movie is not 100% accurate as to how the family sought asylum, but it is a fact that they managed and settled in the USA with this status.

FEELING UNSAFE IN THE USA WITH TEENAGERS 
I have been in business for over 20 years. When George Bush Junior was elected, I noticed a surge of people who wanted to move to France. The reality is that most of them had already been thinking about it for a while and the presidential election just accelerated the process. Lately, I have seen Americans deciding to move to France because they refuse to live in the USA while President Trump remains in office.”

A few weeks ago, I received a call from a woman living in the USA with her 12-year-old daughter. She had decided to send her daughter to live with her father, who lives near Montpellier, France. They have been divorced for many years and yet the father has never paid any child support. The court awarded her full custody of the child with visiting rights for the father, who rarely exercised them. I asked about her motivation, saying “Why do you want your pre-teen daughter to live in France with a father she barely knows?” Her answer chilled me to the bone. She first mentioned school shootings and said she thought they were living where these incidents usually happened. She added that life in the United States today is more dangerous than in Montpellier. Her ex-husband lives in a small village on the outskirts of town, where there is less danger than in a big town, and she felt her daughter would be safer living with him. I believe that a significant part of feeling scared lies in perceptions, and rarely is it an accurate reflection of the danger. I am convinced that her fears do not reflect the reality of the situation, even though she lives in a dangerous area.

It is undeniable that school shootings occur and it could appear that nothing is being done to stop them. Similarly, even though the #metoo movement has opened up the topic of sexual harassment, which makes for a safer environment, it can lead to the impression of an epidemic of harassment since so many stories are becoming public. Bullying is being discussed with more fervor, while schools take more positive action. I conclude the fear is real here, and since I do not have all the details of her life, I can only assume that her plan is not a hasty decision. It is true that attending French middle school for several years would enrich this young girl’s life and there are clear benefits to the idea. In fact, the woman did put the benefits first when she called.

I am still wrestling with this choice, however. How can a mother send her daughter to France, with all the uncertainties and potential risks involved? It is bound to be quite traumatic for all. It feels to me like a desperate decision, choosing between two evils.

DEVELOPMENTS ON SHORT-TERM LODGING IN FRANCE
The new administration in France is more conservative than expected at the time of the election. Nevertheless, the fight to restrict very short-term rentals continues pretty much the same way. One recent change is that the current administration has figured out that French fiscal residents are involved in this activity and they can be caught because of the tax implications. It has always been true that the easiest way to nail someone involved in an illegal activity is often through tax laws concerning the income they generate.

I would like to address three principal issues here:

First, in mid-June URSSAF sent out a memo about how to declare the income generated from short-term rentals. If the annual gross income thus produced is less than 23,000 euros, all one needs to do is mention it on the standard income declaration form. Such rentals cannot be what is called location de chambres d’hôtes et de meublé de tourisme, although I have a hard time coming up with what else to calls such rentals.

If the annual gross income is between 23,000 and 70,000 euros, the owner must declare this as a professional activity. This means obtaining a SIRET number (tax ID number) and paying social charges on the profit made. But the activity can be done under auto-entrepreneur status.

The above concerns purely the fiscal side and says nothing about registering the activity at City Hall.

Second, on June 9th the Assemblée Nationale (lower house of parliament) voted to start the legislative process on a bill dealing with, among many other things, Airbnb-type rentals. As a result, several provisions will now be better enforced, and there are also new regulations. A primary residence can only be rented 120 days per year. The owner must make an annual declaration to City Hall on how many nights the place was rented out. Fines for non-compliance will be between 5,000 and 10,000 euros. Websites such as Airbnb must verify that every ad is legal, i.e., that the owner has registered the activity with City Hall. The companies managing Airbnb-type rentals can now be fined between 10,000 and 50,000 euros if there are ads without such registration.

“Our targets are individuals who buy apartments dedicated to short-term rental” (Notre cible, c’est ceux qui achètent des appartements pour faire de la location à court terme), said Sylvain Maillard, an elected official at Paris City Hall who belongs to President Macron’s party.

One last thing: city employees will have the authority to monitor the concerned websites and apartments.

Just to show the diversity of the topics covered by the bill, victims of domestic violence will not be liable to pay rent once they decide to move out to seek safety. The law states that the spouses are legally obliged to pay the rent unless a formal notice has been given to the landlord. In the case of domestic violence, the process that terminates the lease is respected, for obvious reasons. This is common sense, but a provision needs to be voted in to make it possible.

Owners renting out slums risk having their property confiscated and being prevented by law for five years from buying any real estate in France.

https://abonnes.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2018/06/08/locations-type-airbnb-l-assemblee-vote-des-sanctions-accrues_5311995_823448.html

Third, on June 23rd Le Monde published an article about landlords getting out of Airbnb-type rentals, even when it is done 100% legally.

There are several reasons. The main one seems to be the very high maintenance needed. Because guests stay for short periods, the wear and tear is much higher than with a normal rental. Furniture and appliances need to be repaired and/or changed frequently, as does the bedding. Paying for the cleaning lady, handyman and perhaps a manager to keep the place ready to rent is quite costly.

Also mentioned was the ever-present risk of one tenant destroying the place. Often the apartments used for short-term rentals are inherited, or the owners used to live there. Hence there may be considerable emotional attachment involved, in which the place is not an investment or a revenue source, but is loaded with memories. During the walk-through one might hear about three decades of family history!

Another complaint is one that I find very symptomatic of the French apartment rental sector: French owners do not want to satisfy guests’ wishes to the extent needed to get a good grade on the site and thus maintain good referrals. The French tend instead to feel that guests should be happy with what they get as long as the place is good enough for sleeping.

This shift is not yet obvious, as so many people still do Airbnb-type rentals. But for people who need a place to stay when they arrive with their immigration visa in hand, it helps to know that there are likely to be more and more apartments available for longer-term rental, three to six months at a time. Such places are vital for new arrivals, enabling them to take care of immediate needs such as securing the immigration status related to their long-stay visa, and being able to open a bank account with a stable address, to mention the most obvious ones.

https://abonnes.lemonde.fr/argent/article/2018/06/23/logement-les-limites-de-la-location-de-courte-duree_5320031_1657007.html

SUMMER VACATION: PERIOD THE OFFICE IS CLOSED THIS SUMMER
The office will be closed for less than a month, starting Friday, July 23rd. It will reopen on Monday, August 20th. As always, I will be reachable by email for emergencies and important matters. The service I offer of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed. Prefecture appointments already scheduled will not be affected – I will be there.

I would like to remind everyone that there will be no August issue.

Best regards,

QUESTION

CHOSING BETWEEN A CARTE BLEUE EUROPEENNE AND SELF-EMPLOYED IMMIGRATION STATUS

I am an American, working and living in Paris, who has been living and working in France with a carte bleue européenne visa (I have lived in France for 2 years). However, I am considering switching to the self-employed status, which will I think require a visa change to something like profession libérale or another visa.
Is this possible?

QUESTION

WHEN RENOVATIONS VOTED BY THE OWNERS’ COUNCIL GO WRONG

I bought an apartment in Paris about 15 years ago as I thought I would be relocated in Germany. This did not happen but I still have it and am making the best of the situation. All these years the building has been more or less reasonably managed. A couple of years ago, the general meeting voted the renovation of the courtyard facade. The initial work started about a year later, to be stopped almost right away.
The property manager, i.e. the syndic, is now telling us it has JUST! discovered (as if this could be believable) that the structure of these walls is made of wooden beams and all of them are rotten. So, a new and now extraordinary general meeting has been called to approve the investigation of the condition of these walls, and there will be a need for another one to approve the renovation of the beams. In short, they have scheduled one year of work instead of four months and doubled the budget from 140,000€ to 300,000€.

What incompetent crooks! As a co-owner can I sue the syndic by myself? For sure they are not going to get my money just because they are incompetent.

First of all, I would like to wish all of you a very happy and prosperous 2018! French custom dictates that New Year’s wishes can be expressed until the end of January, so I have managed it a few hours before the deadline.

I was thinking of using the Beatles’ song “Yesterday” for the title of this month’s issue, but the melancholy lyrics are so much about the past that this song did not capture my message. For the first issue of 2018, this title seems too simplistic. New year’s resolutions are inspired by the feeling that something new and, of course, wonderful will happen during the next twelve months. What if we were to talk about what seems to be a radical change in attitudes towards sexual harassment? Or discuss the new French labor law? Or reflect on some significant changes in French taxation policies? I believe that these topics alone would legitimate my title.

We continue to see such situations evolving in both France and in the USA, and we are incapable of predicting what the next move will be, the next reaction of the populace. This is very unsettling for people who are used to predictable decisions. If there is one thing we have learned in 2017, it is that the “old” is fading fast and 2018 will see a lot of new things emerging, both good and bad. I continue to find it fascinating that the president of France is as unpredictable as his American counterpart, and that only one of them has been considered by some to be capricious. The two presidents resemble each other in their determination to implement their electoral promises now that they are in office. One could object that their promises were not of the same nature and would not have the same consequences, and this is absolutely true, but it is a definitive change to have presidents who are determined to have their pledges turned into legislation. So we are in with the new; this is certain and for many it means riding on a rollercoaster, an activity that very few of us enjoy. As for France, which I know better than the USA, there is an obvious need for a lot of radical changes. I just hope that France as a nation will benefit from the freight train of sweeping change and that not too many people will be led astray while this is happening. The new legislation that brings improvements should benefit everybody.

PROUST’s CONTRE SAINTE-BEUVE IN THE AGE OF HARVEY WEINSTEIN ?
Contre Sainte-Beuve (“Against Sainte Beuve”) is an unfinished collection of essays by Marcel Proust. Written between 1895 and 1900, it was discovered among Proust’s papers after his death and published posthumously in 1954. Three of the essays take issue with the body of work of the 19th century French literary critic Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve.

Proust is by far my favorite author; he stands apart from the rest. He is too often known only as an author whose sentences typically cover several pages of a book. Reducing him to his exceptional grammar skills is comparable to demoting him to the status of a well-trained monkey doing impressive tricks.

After recent events in France and the USA, I thought of the issues involved through the lens ofContre Sainte-Beuve. People unfamiliar with this 19th century debate might be confused by my choice.

Briefly, Sainte-Beuve believed that art, especially literature, was best understood when the reader knew the author’s life and intentions so as to put the work in context. Proust feels that literature, and art in general, is best appreciated on its own and that information related to the author distracts from or distorts the work’s message. While he does not discourage learning about the artist, and admits some benefits of doing so, in his view this makes the reader start becoming a critic, thus changing the focus.

The French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine have been studied in French secondary schools for decades and are considered the major poets of their generation. Rimbaud (1854-1891) influenced the modernist movement in literature and art, prefiguring surrealism. An excellent student, he started writing very young but left school as a teen and ran away from home. He completed the bulk of his literary output in late adolescence and early adulthood, then stopped writing at age 21. He and Verlaine had a sometime violent love affair, which lasted nearly two years. In later years, Rimbaud traveled as a merchant before dying of cancer at age 37.

Verlaine (1844-1896) was associated with the Decadent movement and is considered one of the greatest exponents of fin de siècle French poetry. After starting a correspondence with Rimbaud, he lost interest in his wife, Mathilde, effectively abandoning her and their son for the younger poet. Their stormy affair culminated in Brussels in July 1873 when, in a drunken rage, Verlaine shot at Rimbaud, wounding him in the left wrist, although not seriously. As a result, Verlaine was imprisoned for two years in Mons, Belgium.

Over a century later I have yet to meet a French school teacher who explains the personal life of these men when their poems are being studied. My question is, can the revered artist and complete scumbag coexist in the same person? Verlaine, for example, is a revered poet who was also a criminal who served two years in a Belgian jail. I believe he illustrates quite well that such coexistence is entirely possible.

So where does this take us regarding the current wave of denouncement of sexual misconduct by men? My initial reaction is to look at the gravity of the misconduct, as criminal law distinguishes between misdemeanors and felonies. Then the criminal justice system should do its work. These men are stepping down or being fired from their jobs because of public pressure, because their positions are incompatible with such misconduct. That is one side of the issue. The public eye and the media should be addressing the issue differently depending on the nature of the alleged misconduct. Some of the accused are facing or will face criminal charges, others not. In France as well as the USA, some had or continue to have prominent careers as artists but could end up spending time in jail.

On both sides of the Atlantic, living and dead artists are being described as despicable people – recent cases in the news, for instance, range from Woody Allen to the anti-Semitic 20th century poet Louis-Ferdinand Céline, and several other cases are likely to arise in the weeks and months to come. In many ways, it is an excellent development and people should know of the criminal activities. But I would prefer that the focus stay on the criminal aspect rather than tainting such men’s artistic output.

Hitler had a short-lived career as a painter, but his art is all forgotten. History remembers him as the Nazi leader of Germany in WWII. History is very good at discerning the most important thing to remember about a person.

AARO RECORDED MY 2 HOUR PRESENTATION ON DECEMBER 18

Here is AARO’s introduction to the video:

Coping with French Administration
It is rare that AARO has a presentation about immigration to a country, but since so many AARO members live in France, we made an exception. Jean Taquet and his wife, an American, are AARO members. He studied law in France and then lived in the United States for many years, becoming an associate of the Delaware Bar Association. Upon returning to France, through his contacts at the American Church, he became an expert on immigration to France. He was also a regular contributor to the now defunct Paris Free Voice.

French Logic
Jean started the talk by telling the audience that France is logical. This got a good chuckle, but he continued to explain exactly how that logic works. It starts with the French Revolution and having to deal with the old elite (aristocrats) and establishing a fair system for all to be equal under the law. This was achieved with the Napoleonic Civil Code. The way that France can maintain its republic is by treating all equally and that means through identity, not aristocratic rank. Identity is established by name, date and place of birth, domicile, and profession. Your name, your birth certificate, and proof of where you live and what you do. (Reporter’s note: In France, the extrait d’état civil, which is the birth certificate document, contains more than just your birth information, which is why the administration frequently wants to see a recent one.) That is the logic behind the constant request for documents.

The video is accessible on the AARO website at: https://aaro.org/events/event-reports/641-coping-with-french-administration

I would like to thank AARO for the opportunity; I really enjoy giving this kind of presentation, trying to liven up topics that by definition might seem quite boring.

FRANCE IS CHANGING ITS POSITION ON OVERSTAYING WITHOUT IMMIGRATION STATUS
For the first time, a client was nearly fined for overstaying the visa waiver program after being stopped by French police at the airport. The risk is still quite low; the fact that the person is not American may have made a difference. This is their account of the incident.

“When I left Paris at the immigration at the airport they noticed I entered in September. He was gonna charge me 180 euros but not my son, and then he said, ‘This time is fine, you don’t have to pay, but you can’t enter Europe for 6 months unless you get a visa.’ Then I explained and showed him my appointment at the consulate that I was going to apply for the visa to stay longer in France. He didn’t question the fact that I stayed over 6 months in a year but that I stayed 113 days instead of 90. I said we traveled around Europe during this time.”

This is a warning signal that should be taken very seriously.

THE TAXE D’HABITATION IS FADING OUT QUICKLY FROM JANUARY 2018 
Lower-income people are to be exempted from paying the taxe d’habitation under the new French tax law, fulfilling a campaign promise of President Macron. The estimate is that about 80% of households will not pay it by the 2021 fall when it is normally due.

Many question what will replace it, as it is the main local tax that cities and departments count on to balance their budgets.

The tax authorities have set up a simulation page to let people see if they will be affected by this radical change: http://www.impots.gouv.fr/portail

SELF-EMPLOYMENT IN FRANCE AND THE NEW LABOR LAW 
The question of labor law in France is currently a very political one. Several French leaders have fought the new legislation because of its decrease in the protection afforded to French workers. Even without taking a political position, it is possible to witness the rapid evolution of the French labor market.

I want to stay away from this debate, as I feel totally incompetent as a grammarian, whether in French or in English. I would just point out that English as it is spoken all over the world stigmatizes gender differences a lot less. And yet Anglophone countries are facing sexual harassment issues as much as France, and many other countries, for that matter.

For about 80 years the trend was always to protect French employees so they were secure in their jobs, with this stability allowing people to make long-term plans. The banking industry adapted to the situation as well, enjoying a financially stable client base. Similarly, landlords were supposed to be reassured by the stability of their renters.

The recent financial crises badly disturbed this picture, and for years now a high rate of unemployment has indicated that not everybody was enjoying the same security. The resulting labor market rigidity led to a significant increase in the volume of temp work, although the French administration and courts could, and often did, rule that several temp contracts that amounted to missions for the same job with the same company was in effect a traditional French labor contract. Moreover, even temp workers are employees, and therefore benefit from generous unemployment payments and cost a lot of money in social charges.

Former President Sarkozy tried to deliver on his main presidential campaign promise, “travailler plus pour gagner plus” (work more to earn more). But he failed to significantly change the legislation limiting the workweek to 35 hours and the overall amount one can work, in one or more jobs, to 48 hours a week.

However, there was never a limit to the number of hours a self-employed person could work. Hence, Sarkozy created a simple fiscal status that would allow people to work legally on the side instead of taking a second job, as is common in the USA. The loi de modernisation de l’économie, passed in August 2008 and in effect as of January 1, 2009, created the auto-entrepreneur status. It was intended for side jobs, but very quickly many unemployed people signed up for it as a way to get some work and be active again. As recently as 30 years ago, working as an independent and running your own business was frowned on. People who made this choice were seen as either too incompetent to get a normal job or crooks using the status to steal money from clients and cheat on taxes.

One very visible evolution in the labor market is that this stigma is almost completely gone. Today in many parts of the country, there is excitement about creating your own business, and some French people now admire those who do so. A significant portion of the French population now has this status. In 2016, 331,500 people signed on to be auto-entrepreneurs, an increase of 3.3% from 2015. That same year, 261,000 signed off, for a net total of 70,500 auto-entrepreneurs in 2016.

So many people holding this status has shifted the way employers view the situation. They no longer need to hire, and can have a labor force with no strings attached. Many employers dismissed their salaried employees so they could get auto-entrepreneurs to do their jobs. The English teaching industry in France is now dominated by this status. Even nannies and cleaning ladies increasingly have it.

The latest labor laws, passed on September 23, 2017, can only be understood with this background. The idea is that if French workers are less protected, employers will choose an in-house labor force over subcontracting. Among the many areas the new law covers are that dismissal is less difficult and severance pay less onerous, there is more freedom to reach agreement within the company, and working remotely is better defined. Clearly, for the first time in about 80 years (aside from WWII), a law has been passed that deregulates French worker protection. A few years ago, it would have led to a general strike, France would have shut down for days and the government would then probably have resigned. This is one way to see the sweeping effect of theauto-entrepreneur status. Of course, it is not the only reason; most people credit President Macron with being an excellent politician, able to pass laws the French would ordinarily have a great deal of trouble accepting.

For more info (in French), see http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2017/12/21/bienvenue-dans-la-societe-free-lance_5232996_3232.html

Best regards,

QUESTION

WHAT RIGHT TO WORK DO FOREIGN STUDENTS HAVE IN FRANCE?

I am an American on a student visa, and will be teaching English on the side. My student visa states “authorized to work limited to 60% durée légale”. I have been offered a teaching gig one day a week for three hours. My visa is to be renewed in a couple of months. My employer has strongly recommended that I then change my status to auto-entrepreneur so I may bill her with an invoice as all her other staff do. I would also be able to take on more teaching work. Everything I have read suggests that I should stick with the student visa, that auto-entrepreneur should be the last resort. What are your thoughts or recommendations?

QUESTION

WHEN THE LANDLORD GIVES NOTICE FOR THE WRONG REASON

I have rented an apartment for 25 years, and today I received a letter from the owner telling me I need to move out. The owner states that she intends to lodge her granddaughter and her partner in this apartment. I am 75, retired and live on a small, fixed pension that is too low to be taxable.

All this has come about because I asked the owner not to increase the rent over last year’s since I was already paying 50% of my income in rent, charges and apartment tax. Taking more money from those of modest means so that those who are doing well can do better doesn’t seem fair or logical.

• 1) Which family members does the law allow owners to replace tenants with?
• 2) What is the maximum allowable annual rent increase? My apartment owner says it is 2%.
• 3) Is the maximum increase retroactive and cumulative? i.e. if there was no rent increase last year, can the owner charge a 4% increase this year?
• 4) Is non-payment of a rent increase grounds for eviction?
• 5) Do retired seniors have any special rights to stay in their rental apartments? (Or which administration branch should I contact for this information?)
• 6) Can the notice be given by email?
• 7) Can she propose a smaller apartment in the same building?

Do I have any recourse in this matter?

“Proud Mary” is from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s second studio album, Bayou Country, released in January 1969.

This title is more linked to the introduction than the rest of the issue. Indeed, this is the first time I have also named a section with a song title. I like this band very much. I chose this way to write about those topics as I am trying to stay away from controversy.

Some people will get the impression that I mainly listen to Seventies rock – this is true! Some might see Christian references throughout this introduction, which is fine with me.

My heart goes out to all victims of disasters around the world.

Who’ll Stop the Rain?
This 1970 song by Creedence Clearwater Revival has been on my mind these past two months, given the mood I am in and how the world seems. It would be unfair to say there was no summertime in Paris this year, yet it seems as though it rained every day, at least for the last thirty days. Since that is not an accurate description of the weather in Paris this past August and September, we can conclude that human impressions retain the negative more than the positive.

And how can I be so selfish as to complain about Paris weather when horrific disasters have hit parts of the planet, killing many people and devastating several countries? Even the mighty state of Texas seems to be on its knees. In my mind I see an image of a huge Texas bull, kneeling and looking beat.

Reading data, numbers or projections does not have the same effect as seeing people in real situations. It hits home when a family member or a close friend is a direct victim of a tornado, hurricane or other climatic catastrophe.

On August 15th my family attended a baptism deep in the Brittany countryside. It was not celebrated in a church but took place at a site dedicated to worshiping the Virgin Mary, a lovely grotto near the sea. This shrine was covered with plaques erected by sailors before their sea voyages, asking for the protection of the Virgin Mary. Even though it was their job, these sailors knew the potentially massive destruction the ocean could cause, so they knew that there was always a chance they would not come back.

I am not that interested in the religious aspect of this. These men were humble in the face of nature and knew they could not stand up to its fury. As scientists predict that nature will increasingly produce more destructive and more frequent climatic disasters, maybe we should be humble ourselves when we think of the condition of the planet. The common expression “Mother Nature,” represents nurture and illustrates that we get the food, air and water we need from nature.

Unfortunately, lately I have had the feeling (I hope incorrect) that the nurturing Mother Nature now holds a whip and is punishing humankind the old-fashioned way for what humans have done to nature.

“Long as I remember, the rain been coming down
Clouds of myst’ry pouring confusion on the ground
Good men through the ages, tryin’ to find the sun
And I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the rain.”

A PACS IS LIKE MARRIAGE EXCEPT IN IMMIGRATION AND ESTATE LAW
In France, a PACS is like marriage – that is the understanding everybody now has. But there are two areas where it is not true. I have often addressed the rather complicated procedure to obtain immigration status related to a PACS and living with one’s partner, even if the partner is a French national. When such a couple marries, the foreign spouse of a French national gets immigration status once the wedding has been celebrated and they can prove they live together, sometimes in as little as three months.

A recent ruling from the Court of Appeals in Nancy states very clearly that when one member of a PACS dies, the surviving partner has no right to the estate, regardless of their community property, even if legal documents show a strong intention for the surviving partner to enjoy some benefits, even ownership.

In this case, the surviving party’s argument to the court was that their PACS certificate, in which they declared that all their property was jointly held and in case of death would go to the surviving partner, was the equivalent of a tontine clause. This provision, when found in a title of ownership, does just one thing in a radical and definitive way at time of death: it requires ownership of the deceased’s property to go exclusively to the other partner(s) in the tontine, who is or are mentioned in the title and cannot be changed. No one outside the tontine has any possible claim of ownership on the portion owned by the deceased. Things cannot be clearer.

The argument was there were a few documents indicating such a desire – but not the legal document called a will, drafted and registered with the state, making the surviving partner the heir of the deceased.

French inheritance law makes it utterly impossible to disinherit one’s children, whether blood or adopted. The law sets a ratio of ownership of the complete estate that must go to the children, no matter what the deceased wishes or tries to provide. This is a lot more about debt and liability than ownership.

In the case under discussion, the deceased partner had other heirs who were entitled to half the market value of the house, prior to enforcing the tontine clause. The surviving partner could not afford to buy them out, and was forced to sell the home. This is heartbreaking and adds insult to injury, being pressured to sell up and move out just after the death of your loved one.

The saddest part of the story is that registering a will costs about 45€, and the notaire fee to draft can be about 100€. This entire disaster could have been avoided, with some foresight, at a very low cost relative to what was being lost.

The advice here is crystal clear: each partner in a PACS should make a will, preferably at the time the PACS is registered. The argument that there are no assets owned or debts owed, and therefore no need for a will, is really bad, as this court case clearly shows.

http://sosconso.blog.lemonde.fr/2017/07/21/pacs-il-faut-deux-testaments-pour-se-leguer-ses-biens/

IT IS NO LONGER POSSIBLE TO BUY TAX STAMPS AT THE PARIS PREFECTURE HEADQUARTERS
As long as I can remember, there was always a cashier at the Paris prefecture headquarters, making the tax charged for obtaining or renewing immigration status easy to pay. In recent months I had observed that the line to buy timbres fiscaux (tax stamps) was getting longer and longer, with people sometimes waiting more than an hour.

In early September, the cashier office was closed, with a sign on the window stating it was for good(FERMETURE DEFINITIVE). Now the civil servants at the prefecture hand out a flyer at the end of the meeting, explaining how to buy tax stamps on the prefecture website. The system does work, even though it is not intuitive and of course both the flyer and the website are entirely in French.

I know from experience that many people who speak good French, even professors with a PhD in French, cannot understand the website. So I am sure there are many, many people who are upset about this development. Going online is not for everybody, but the alternative is going to either a tax office or a tobacconist. For obvious reasons, even though it is completely irrational, most people do not want to go to the tax office to buy these stamps. The other option is getting them at a tabac. Many, however, do not sell stamps of the large denominations needed – the amounts owed are between 200€ and 600€. Recently in an emergency I had to buy tax stamps worth 269€, the current cost of a normal carte de séjour. I went to the nearest tabac, which had enough stamps – but the highest face value was 20€, which meant getting 13 of them plus change. The form they were glued on was literally covered, as was half the space where the person signs, leaving hardly any room for the signature.

This may just be anecdotal, but I know for a fact that most of the time dealing with the prefecture is truly unpleasant, and it is quite possible that someone other than me would have been asked to come back with a “reasonable” number of stamps. If that had happened, who knows when the person would be able to pick up the carte de séjour.Furthermore, tax stamps are not refundable, so it could mean paying a high price twice over.

This is just to show that what appears to be a change of little consequence ends up creating nightmares for many.

Here is the first page of the website section dedicated to immigration procedures:

http:// www.prefecturedepolice.interieur.gouv.fr/Demarches/Particulier/Ressortissants-etrangers/Titre-de-sejour

And this is the page to start payment for tax stamps:
https://aef.dgef.interieur.gouv.fr/timbresdematerialises/prefecturedepolicedeparis

MIRACLES CAN HAPPEN AT THE PREFECTURE
Here is a story from a reader showing that good situations at the prefecture, while rare, do exist; throughout my career I have seen them more often than the general public thinks. Everybody feels unwelcome entering the immigration office of any prefecture or sous-prefecture alike, but keep this uplifting story in mind:

“I realized a bit late that I wasn’t coming back to France until after my student visa would be expired. This wouldn’t have been a problem but I also couldn’t get an appointment at the prefecture before I left France.

“After asking around it seemed my best course of action was to have my whole dossier (passport, visa, OFII stamp, EDF receipt for housing, letter from the school saying I was continuing next year with dates and certificate of study, 2 passport pictures, birth certificate and a French translation) together and just show up at 8:30 on any day and hope for the best.

“I had honestly prepared for the worst. One of my friends had mentioned that the attendants had literally laughed at her when she tried to come before her appointment. I was met with partial English but complete understanding. They tried to see if I could make an appointment before I left but there were none so they ended up just giving me a number for that morning.

“I was in and out in about 2.5 hours. Which in French bureaucratic time is about 5 seconds. They didn’t give me a physical receipt or anything from my transaction but told me that I would get a text (to my French phone) when the visa was ready to be picked up.

“I left my French SIM card with a friend and she was kind enough to go inquire about it for me when it was ready in May (process was surprisingly quick, they quoted me two months). Unfortunately she wasn’t able to pick it up even though I sent her with all of my relevant documents and a signed letter from me giving her authority to pick it up.

“I came back into the country via Germany on a tourist visa. Despite my best efforts to save my appointment text, … when I got my SIM back I only had texts from August and not May, when I had my original appointment. …

“Luckily they were able to pull up my appointment through my name and expired visa. Literally 5 minutes later my number was called and they gave me my visa. That easy. Shocking, to say the least.

“Definitely wouldn’t recommend doing this, but if you’re in a bind, it is possible! Or at least the stars aligned for me.”

I would reiterate that no one should count on this ever happening to them. This was a completely exceptional situation.

Best regards,

QUESTION

PROTECTION OF DOMICILE UNDER FRENCH LAW

I greatly appreciate your mailings, including personal reminiscences and opinions. On the other hand, I do not agree with your severe criticism (implicit, but undeniable) of the decision against that poor idiot in the HLM who was clearly acting in good faith, although against the law. You say that “basing decisions on fairness is beside the point.” What? Fairness (and compassion) should always have a place in the judicial system! It is not reassuring to hear such a statement from a lawyer. It is partly because of this that you learned in law school that each case is different. Maybe you misunderstood, but it gives an impression of a lawyer we would certainly not hire if we had a problem as an owner who rents with Airbnb from time to time. Otherwise, keep up the good work!

QUESTION

HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT FILE FOR THE FRENCH ADMINISTRATION

I am an American and I would like to apply for a long-stay visitor visa for France, for one year, since I plan to live with my girlfriend, who is French. Is it going to be a disadvantage for my application that I will be using her address for the application? I have heard that applicants with a romantic partner in France are less likely to be accepted. Should I mention my girlfriend at all? I would greatly appreciate any advice or opinion you have on this matter.

Can you explain any

QUESTION

GETTING THE APPOINTMENT AFTER LANDING IN PARIS

Can you tell me what is happening at the prefecture in the 17th (rue Truffaut) and can you give advice since I need to go there to apply for my first carte de séjour? When to arrive, wait times, etc.? I’m a Canadian married to an EU citizen (non-French) and I have done nothing so far.

“If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song),” by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, was written in 1949 in support of the Progressive Movement.

Almost a year ago, I moved to my new office near Place de la Nation. Some tiny details end up meaning a lot more than they appear.

The office is equipped with a plastic shutter protecting the front door that looks and works exactly like the old-fashioned iron shutters that shops and workshops used to have. It is pulled down to close, and pulled up to open. This daily task reminds me of my father, grandfather and great-grandfather’s woodworking shop in a southern Paris suburb. I could see a staircase being built, a cupboard being made and many other pieces being created. There was the smell of hot wood, and the wood dust on the floor and in the air. I watched the skilled workers who did not just build but crafted all this beautiful furniture, carving and assembling everything. These men (in those days there were no women) mastered their craft. They were proud of their work when the furniture was done; they shared the feeling of a job well done.

When I see what my son can sculpt with a piece of stone, and see him taking the time to carve, I know that this gift skipped only one generation.

So, in this weird way, I see my writing (whether it is my column or the letters and even the emails I write for my clients) more and more as a craft, an exercise in choosing and assembling the words and keeping things simple. By sticking to this idea I try to avoid the temptation of writing literature. My job is to craft, which means work on it more than once, let it sit, and then go back to it.

What if “Making America great again” (and France, too, for that matter) meant promoting crafts as a discipline in school, with homework being crafted instead of just being done, or crafting the windows of a shops to decorate them. The same concept can apply to web design, creating apps, writing computer programs and so on. I strongly believe that many new jobs are compatible with this approach to working.

If I had a hammer!

THE LATEST COURT DECISION REGARDING RENTING WITH AIRBNB IN PARIS 
The message from the French administration regarding vacation rentals has been clear for years: the authorities are cracking down, reining in such rentals and so on. The advice given was, “Do it right or the consequences can be quite damaging.” Given this understanding, the latest court decision I am aware of is mind-boggling, as it goes completely against the conventional wisdom.

A French tenant of an HLM (low-income housing) was renting out her flat from time to time through Airbnb. HLM leases are rent controlled, as they are based on the tenant’s income as well as rent subsidized. The size of such an apartment is supposed to exactly fit the size of the family, and is often a tad smaller. The lease states that it is a breach of contract to have an extra person living there, and of course subletting even a portion of the apartment is totally illegal, resulting in the lease being automatically voided.

In light of all of this, it seemed clear that once this person was caught, the outcome of the court case was certain. But in fact the ruling demonstrated that protection of the tenant goes way too far in France. The ruling noted that the tenant stopped the rentals after receiving the first notice, having pleaded ignorance of the law; that the Airbnb ad was taken down immediately; and, the final straw, that the rent asked for the room was so moderate that it could not be seen as engaging in a business.

This succession of excuses led to the ruling that the person was a lawful tenant and entitled to keep the lease. At this point, I would ask what constitutes an unlawful tenant?

Throughout the Fifth Republic, there has been strong discipline within the parties in terms of voting the way the leadership wants. With the presidential group, it is uncertain whether the same obedience will exist, as it is brand new and its members come from very diverse backgrounds and clearly do not share the same views on several topics. For more info (in French), see http://sosconso.blog.lemonde.fr/2017/06/29/elle-sous-loue-son-hlm-via-airbnb/

FINES FOR AIRBNB-TYPE RENTALS IN PARIS HIT A RECORD HIGH 
The total of fines collected by the Paris city hall for illegal vacation rentals reached a record 615,000€ in the first half of 2017, compared with 45,000€ in the first half of 2016 (the total collected in 2016 was 200,000€). The number of owners fined in the 2017 period was 31, with 128 apartments checked compared to 42 in the 2016 period. That means the average fine was 19,839€. Nevertheless, despite the increased risk of being fined, the number of apartments dedicated to this kind of rental is growing in Paris. I have heard that the risk is considered just part of doing business because the amount of money to be made is sufficiently greater than the fine.

Especially in France, where application of the law can differ depending on the context, the parties involved and so on, I can only state that the risk is increasing and there may come a time when the amount of the fine becomes truly punitive, at which point more people will get out of the market.

As the story in the previous section indicates, the court system also makes a huge difference. In particular, the system is likely to mete out different treatment to a French person who lives in France and rents out occasionally, and a foreigner who buys an apartment exclusively for this use and runs it as a business. Is the court decision described above unfair? That is not for me to answer; in any case, basing decisions in this matter on fairness is totally missing the point.

Still, comparing these two situations shows how contradictory court decisions can be. One of the first things one learns in law school is that every case is different and it is the lawyer’s job to find the right angle, precedent and legal grounds to let the client win the case.

I will keep informing my readers and clients about this issue to the best of my ability. One thing is clear: the Paris city hall is on the warpath about this issue and I do not see anything that might change that.

http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/logement/article/2017/08/11/airbnb-a-paris-les-amendes-sont-passees-de-45-000-a-615-000-euros-en-un-an_5171370_1653445.html

A LONG-TIME READER IS SELLING ONE OF HIS BUSINESSES 
I almost never open my column to such advertisements; the person needs to be quite close to me for me to consider it. But a very long-time reader recently let me know that he has a business for sale. It is a debt-free, profitable tour guiding business with over 130 TripAdvisor reviews and has received a Certificate of Excellence every year it has been eligible. He is taking on a new project later this year and needs to free up some time to devote to that. The sale price would include formation of the appropriate French business entity for the company. If you are interested, please email me directly.

URSSAF IS FORCING MORE AND MORE PEOPLE TO DECLARE BILLING THROUGH ITS WEBSITE
I have often written about the French administration pushing to use the internet for many things. I have no problem with that when there is an alternate solution, even if it means paying a bit more. On the other hand, I question the fairness of forcing people to use the internet as the only option.

When it comes to declaring employee social charges to be paid, sales tax and so on for established businesses, I believe a CPA or in-house accountant is needed, and they all have access to the internet and are trained to use the relevant applications.

I just learned, however, that 16,000€ in billing is enough to be forced to only use the internet procedure. Many people working out of their homes, having independent work as a side job, make this kind of money.

The entire reason for creating the auto-entrepreneur status was to make it easy for people to enter the business world by doing a side job along with a salaried position. This often applies to retired people, those doing manual labor and so on, who may not be that savvy with computers and internet applications. Furthermore, I found the app not user friendly at all.

I think the income limit is way too low for the population potentially affected by the decision – especially foreigners, whose French may not be sufficient to understand what is being asked of them. Many Americans, for example, confuse the SIRET number – the tax ID number for a business, regardless of its size – with the SECU number, which is the equivalent of the Social Security number used for health coverage and retirement benefits.

FOR THE FIRST TIME, I HAVE AN ASSISTANT
When I worked with Isabelle Russo as part of the Alliage company, we managed to deal with reporting and some bookkeeping issues for very small businesses. Several of my American clients wanting to live in France chose self-employed status, as it is easier to obtain immigration status with it, and lately has also made it a little easier to obtain employment, now that the auto-entrepreneur status has become popular.

In 2016, ALLIAGE closed, and this teamwork ended, so I quickly struck up a relationship with a fully licensed French CPA (expert-comptable-commissaire aux comptes). But this did not address the needs of people earning less than 32,000€ in gross sales, with the micro BNC fiscal status. They are exempt from doing full bookkeeping but still have to file declarations of income to the tax office and to RSI for social charges. Managing payment of the social charges and understanding how it works can be quite complex. I do some of it when people initially register, because almost all these documents are needed to obtain the related immigration status. After that they should be autonomous, but in fact most of the time they are not. There has always been a real need for this level of help, which is below what the French CPA does professionally but which I am not really equipped to handle efficiently, especially considering the level of my fees.

Therefore, starting this month (September), I will be working with an assistant so as to add this service for those who need help handling the French paperwork, basic French administrative procedures and so on. I will give her name and information upon request. Her fees are between one-half and one-third of what I charge, depending on the level of services requested. Of course, she works under my supervision, so I guarantee the quality of the service, and she will keep her files in my office.

TAX OWED ON 2016 INCOME IS DUE SEPTEMBER 15th
Could this be the last time in French history that people pay their income tax in the traditional three installments on February 15th, May 15th and September 15th? The system is set up so that on each of these dates, people pay part of the total tax due, usually in three approximately equal installments. The first two payments are each equal to one-third of the tax owed the previous year, since the tax collection agency, the Trésor Public, does not know the amount for the current payment year until it is notified by the Centre des Impôts, which receives the income declaration of the previous calendar year in the spring. There is a special office in the Parisian suburb of Créteil for residents of Paris. It used to be that these two divisions of the French fiscal administration had different locations. Today they share the same buildings, but still function as separate entities.

Until the presidential election last May, the plan was that everything would be ready on January 1st 2018 to switch to a new system. France is one of the last Western countries where income tax is paid by the individual directly and not withheld by the employer. For many cultural and historical reasons, the French are reluctant to change this set-up, but all of them are not enough to explain why it has not yet been done.

There is only one technical reason that withholding tax would be very difficult to arrange, and that is the concept of the quotient familial. I believe France is the only country that taxes the family as a group rather than individuals. This means the amount of tax you owe changes if:

You get married,

You get divorced,

You have a child,

The child leaves the home,

A family member dies,

A family member becomes disabled.

Both during the presidential campaign and after President Macron was sworn in, he has expressed his doubts about how pertinent the new set-up is. It is clear that there is a powerful arm-twist challenge between the president and his cabinet, on the one hand, and, on the other, the French fiscal administration, which has worked on this project for years and supposedly is totally on schedule. Everybody should follow this issue very carefully.

Best regards,

QUESTION

DIFFERENT TYPES OF RIGHT TO WORK AS AN EMPLOYEE

I just went through the OFII physical as a tourist and a consulting firm here in Paris made me an offer this morning as a 60,000€ salaried employee to start next month and they have agreed to sponsor me for a work permit. One of my questions is what is the name of the work permit that I need to ask for on the prefecture forms? Is it a carte de séjour salarié? There is one additional question I have now. My new employer said that with his other employees who needed work permits (I know they had cartes de séjour salarié), he was able to get them started working at their new job once the paperwork was submitted, even though the permit was yet to be issued. He said that there was never a problem with it. The permit was always issued. Do you recommend that I not to go this route and, instead, wait till the process is complete?

QUESTION

THE PREFECTURE ISSUES THE RIGHT IMMIGRATION STATUS

I submitted a request for a change of immigration status. I was a student for a few years with the related immigration status and I wanted to start my own business. The prefecture told me that my card was ready so I picked it up and it was all wrong. It said visiteur when I asked for merchant, commerçant. How can they make such an error? I offer services to small businesses with their websites, flyers and newsletters both in French and in English. What I find weird is that it also says profession libérale on the card. 

Can you explain any.

QUESTION

LOST KEYS? – CHANGE THE LOCK!

I have lived in Paris for a few months. I was robbed last night and they got my apartment key. It’s the kind where you have no option but to order a replacement key for 140 euros. My roommate still has one, luckily, so I wonder: is there a shady dude who will copy it for 50 euros or something?

The vote held on June 23rd in the UK is on my mind tonight and overshadows everything else. This title sums up what the EU is going through. After 40 years of being in a relationship, even a bad one, splitting is always very painful and destructive. It takes a long time to establish a new balance

So even if the latest news does not make it easy, I would like to wish all of you a great summer and a very nice vacation.

BREXIT
Normally I never react right away to current events, but this is way too big not to make an initial analysis. Most comments are extremely negative and I share the view that it is going to be a lot worse for quite a while before it gets any better. Now I also believe that it could be a blessing in disguise. The EU must move forward after decades of staying the same in terms of creating a federal country. The UK was the main resistance to this. There could be a chance once the turmoil is over to bring back the EU vision of the1970s. I remind my readers that the UK joined the EU in 1974!

The reason Brexit is so painful to me is that the British people voted without understanding what they were voting for. They did not realize how false the anti-Europe slogans were during the campaign and how strong and solid the ties were within the EU, including the UK. They have now lost so much, certainly a lot more than they will ever gain. The rest of the EU, and especially what I consider today’s beating heart of the union – Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Luxemburg, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal – will never depart.

A little background might be useful here. From Wikipedia: “The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was an international organisation serving to unify certain Continental European countries after World War II. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, which was signed by Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The ECSC was the first international organisation to be based on the principles of supranationalism, and would ultimately lead the way to the founding of the European Union.” I cannot imagine what it would be like to erase 60 years of living together.

FRENCH ESTATES AND SPLIT OF OWNERSHIP
In the USA, setting up a trust is quite common when one wants to settle his or her own estate while still alive. The key to the success of this process is, I believe, the fact that the rules and the beneficiaries are clearly defined. There is great peace of mind in knowing that everything is well organized.

French law does not have the same legal tool, and tradition favors two completely different legal mechanisms: indivision and démembrement de la propriété.

Under French law all the children must get the same amount of net assets. When it is difficult to sort this out, the assets are either sold and the money is split (démembrement), or each one becomes owner of his/her portion (démembrement – indivision). I believe the weakest point of the latter set-up is that if one wants to leave, he/she has priority over the others, as expressed by the legal concept nul n’est tenu à l’indivision,meaning that no one can be forced to stay in the joint ownership. Since there are no defining rules for the daily management of this arrangement – and no trustee – it often happens that as time goes by the heirs reach a point of disagreement and if the others cannot buy out the dissenter, the property is sold.

The another way of addressing split of ownership of an estate is the démembrement. The Latin-derived word used is usufruct in English, usufruit in French (from usus, the right to use, and fructus, the right enjoy the “fruit” or benefit of the property, e.g. by collecting rent). The split is between a person who holds the title but has no other rights, a concept called bare ownership or nu-propriété, and another person who has full use of the property, which means either living in it or renting it out.

Unlike the previous situation, it is impossible to get out of this situation unless both parties agree to sell their respective rights together. That is, the bare ownership, i.e. the title, can be sold but it stays just as “bare” of other rights for the buyer. But the usufruct is attached to one designated person and cannot be passed on to anyone else.

Problems often occur when upkeep, renovation or repairs need to be done. The law states that daily upkeep and small repairs go with the usufruct, and structural repairs and renovation go with the “bare ownership”. One can immediately see that there might be some disagreement between these two people regarding the definitions of small repairs and structural repairs.

Recently the Cour de Cassation ruled on this issue, stating that, for example, changing the front door, the gutter, the WC, or the shutters is linked to the usufruct. To avoid lawsuits, the parties are now advised to draw up a contract that is very similar to a lease defining the rights and obligations of both parties, thus avoiding interpretation of the law specific to the matter.

About a year ago, the law changed and foreigners living in France now can choose the law of their country of citizenship to govern their estate. What I have described above may be a good reason to choose a legal regime other than that of France. It might also be advisable to speak to a notaire about the matter.

http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/argent/article/2016/05/07/comment-se-partagent-les-frais-d-un-bien-immobilier-en-indivision_4915320_1657007.html

NEW REGULATIONS REGARDING MANDATORY SCHOOLING IN FRANCE
As in most Western countries, there is an obligation to school children in France between ages 6 and 16. The parents are responsible for making sure the schooling occurs, but the choice of how it happens is up to them. There are in effect four types of schooling in France:

• Public school
• Private school with a contract with the state
• Private school without a contract
• Homeschooling
• Public school, as its name implies, is run by the government; the teachers and everyone else working there are civil servants. They must do exactly what the Ministry of Education rules.

Some private schools have signed a contract with the state, and therefore are more or less government-monitored. Their teachers are paid by the state and they must have education and diplomas meeting government standards. Their teaching is monitored by the state regarding the topics for each grade. The main difference is generally that religious instruction is included on top of the school curriculum, and there may be a slightly different orientation in the teaching methods, some philosophical or religious views, and so on.

Until very recently, private schools without a contract, had no interaction with the French administration. For a long time such schools had only to send a note informing the government of their establishment and that was that. Neither the teachers nor the curriculum were verified. Now, however, new regulations have changed this: the school must obtain government approval, which means presenting the teachers, the staff, the curriculum for each grade, and so on. Time will tell how much control is exercised and how rigid the requirements will be.

Homeschooling was unheard of in France until recently. I am sure it always existed but on a minimal level, and there were objective reasons for that: the authorities did not see it as a threat. Also, when it did happen, it was done through the Centre National d’Education à Distance, a division of the Ministry of Education.

On June 9th, however, the Ministry of Education, in addition to cracking down on non-contract private schools, warned that homeschooling might be limited as well. Its reasoning is that a growing segment of the population has radical views that are incompatible with the French way of life, and that children educated at home are in danger of being taught dangerous views. Many people might immediately think of radical Muslims and terrorism, but while it is true that this danger exists, today all three monotheistic religions have among them radical groups that refuse to accept the authority of the state, preferring allegiance to their religious beliefs.

My concern is that a wide range of alternative schooling methods be preserved. Some, like Montessori, are not recognized by the French authorities, which I find odd; thus, they cannot sign a contract with the government. This type of school should easily be approved. I worry that the government is taking too narrow a view of the situation and treating proven methods of education the same as schooling by religious extremists and cults only because they differ from the traditional approach. Still, the statistics make it clear that the number of parents choosing the “Montessori type” of schooling is growing, so this issue should be addressed and these schools should be fully recognized.

A BIG STEP FOR MY PRACTICE
The family-owned SARL A Survival Kit For Paris now officially exists and has a bank account. It is premature to switch my complete accounting over to this account as long as I stay in the current office at 7 rue Ganneron. Therefore I do not yet accept payment in that name, but for me it means everything is ready to transition to the new set-up.

INCREASE OF MY FEES ON OCTOBER 1st 2016
It has been about six years since my fees last increased. On October 1st, I will raise my initial retainer from 250€ to 270€ and the hourly rate from 100€ to 110€.

MY OFFICE WILL NOT CLOSE DURING THE SUMMER VACATION
Since my office situation has not been resolved and I do not anticipate being able to move before August or early September, I am not planning any vacation time and do not expect to go away for any length of time this summer. Depending on the outcome of my office search and how quickly it proceeds, this could change some – but not much, considering the fact that any changes would be last minute.

Best regards,

QUESTION

FRENCH SHORT-TERM RENTAL AND PRIMARY RESIDENCE

We moved to Paris a few months ago from the USA on a visitor visa. While staying in a short-term rental, we tried to rent long term in Paris and it ended up being a complete mission impossible. Even when we offered to set aside six months or even a year’s worth of rent, we were only offered leases that stated that this would be our secondary residence. So we gave up and agreed to sign the one that seemed to be best protecting our interests. We might be buying an apartment in a few years or even sooner so we are determined to stay in France, but can we be thrown out of our current apartment in a year or less?

QUESTION

REGISTERING A SMALL BUSINESS IN FRANCE SINCE URSSAF CHANGED REGULATIONS ON MICRO STATUS

I obtained a professional immigration visa at the French consulate in Atlanta, as I work in the advertising industry mainly for fashion companies. After a few trips to Paris, I made enough contacts to try relocating in France. After I arrived I found out that I cannot get the professional status I want. I know that my business is going to grow slowly and it might take several years before I exceed the 32,000€ billing limit of the micro BNC income tax status. But I found out by going to URSSAF that the only way I now can get this fiscal status is by signing up for auto-entrepreneur fiscal status. Then I called the prefecture and found out that my visa does not allow me to choose that status and I must stay with the traditional BNC, which means paying TVA, keeping books and therefore hiring a French CPA to do the year-end declarations and so on. I feel like I have been cheated by the system. Can this be fixed or am I really to be penalized and have to accept this full-grown business status, which is costly and cumbersome?

Who the fool is depends on which side of the issue one is standing. It happens that in France and in the USA in very different ways, there is an ever-growing portion of the population that is looking for new ideas, new solutions, and aspires to radically change the society. At the same time, there is probably about the same number of people who fear those changes and express the desire to at least keep things the way they are and even to go back to some better situations that existed in the past. In the USA, this is illustrated in the presidential race by Bernie Sanders for the first group and Donald Trump for the second. Interestingly enough, in France the first group could be represented by Emmanuel Macron, the finance minister, and the second group, by those in professions who have been violently demonstrating these last months. It is interesting to see that Bernie Sanders and Emmanuel Macron have opposing views on many topics, to start with, their opinions concerning whether big business should be favored or opposed. One evolution everybody agrees on is the fact that the Internet delivers a gargantuan amount of information to absolutely everybody and for the most part absolutely free of charge. I see the consequences in France of this worldwide evolution linked to the Internet. Not all segments of society have yet been able to use it to their advantage. This said, the traditional French society was not equipped to deal with modern-day expections of customer satisfaction. France has considerably improved the quality of its service and this started even before the Internet was created. Today the French population accepts a much wider range of culture and tradition, and pays more and more attention to what people want. Most of the issues I address this month show how a profession, an administration and some people are disconnected from today’s reality in France. More and more often the individual is informed and therefore makes an educated choice, and the professional discovers too late that the client was not captive, and that he has lost his client. Old-fashioned restaurants, cafés, taxis and landlords are feeling the pressure. One illustration of this trend is shown by a recent study – regarding the decline of the traditional cafés in France. The main two reasons were the poor service and the unwillingness to offer soft drinks people wanted, especially the so-called diet ones. It is also interesting to see that even the French administration is being forced to adapt to people’s expectations – very slowly, as expected, but still moving in the right direction.

So who is the fool, the French taxi driver hoping he can keep his job and sell his license for a reasonable price when he retires, or the Uber driver who thinks he has a promising future in France? Rather than answer this question as well as the one of this month’s title, I will let readers decide for themselves.

CHANGE IN MY BUSINESS
I have carried out my work as an employee of the company Alliage for more than fifteen years. I had many reasons to choose this set-up, the most obvious being that employee status, even though quite expensive in terms of taxes, offers substantial peace of mind since France favors the employee status. Now, after significant improvements in the self-employed status in France, I am envisioning doing business through my own set-up. At the same time, Isabelle Russo, Alliage senior manager, has decided to dedicate most of her time to her career in the entertainment industry. A few years ago, she qualified as a show producer and has since built a business.

As the situation evolves I will keep my readers and clients informed.

MORE READER TESTIMONY ON PROBLEMS WITH AMERICAN AIRLINES
I wrote an article in the AAWE news publication on my daughter’s and my experiences with the Open Skies program of AA, British Airways, Iberia, Qatar Airways, etc., in Newark last July. Several other AAWE members had similar experience with this program at that time and I would bet it was the same situation that your reader described. I do believe that attention should be directed to abuses by this consortium, often chosen because of price. Having worked for Pan Am in Africa, I was appalled by their inconsideration for their passengers’ welfare. I would like to describe what happened to us this past summer, which is now common American airline behavior, leaving passengers stranded.

“In July, our travel agent here arranged a three-week trip from France to the U.S. for us. All went well until we checked in at 3:30 p.m. to board our return flight for Paris, scheduled to leave at 6:45 p.m., a flight confirmed by American Airlines four months previously. The British Airways service manager informed us that our flight had been canceled but that he had chartered a plane from another company and that we would be boarding about 8 p.m. The plane and an Iberian crew arrived and we boarded. There was a long wait before we taxied to the take-off runway. Once there, there was another long wait before one of the crew announced that they had “heard” something and that we needed to return to the terminal. At the terminal, the captain announced a fifteen minute wait for a mechanic and, after another wait, we were told to disembark. The British Airways staff avoided our questions about a future departure, instructed us to pick up our luggage and, if necessary, line up for hotel vouchers or for taxis to return home, for those living in the area. For the large number of us returning home to France, they offered the phone number of British Airways and told us to call for onward reservations. Faced with protests, the station manager commented that he had no facilities for making reservations and a staff member added that, if the staff were to do this, they would be at the airport all night! It was up to each passenger to make his own onward reservations.”

FOOD WASTE RECYCLING IS NOW MANDATORY IN FRANCE FOR SOME RESTAURANTS – DOGGY BAGS ARE BECOMING COMMON IN FRANCE
Bringing doggy bags home could be seen as a non-issue but since it happened in France, it indicates a significant change in French culture. For a long time, the main reason French restaurants would not agree to prepare doggy bags for their customers was that leftovers would not taste as good as freshly prepared food so there was a risk of damage to their reputation.

The truth is that the vast majority of French restaurants are not so exquisite that eating their leftovers would be an insult to their cooking.

Another reason brought forward was that in modern cuisine the portions are so small that there is nothing left over, since servings are supposedly just the right quantity to allow one to fully appreciate the meal. It is true that modern cuisine in France is often characterized by a very large plate with a small quantity on it. But it is always possible to make a mistake and order too much. So this is not sufficient to refuse to pack leftovers in a doggy bag.

What I truly find interesting with this issue is that a law had to be passed before restaurants would agree to box up leftovers: the clients did not have enough power to change the professionals’ attitude about this. This says a lot about how professionals resist change and customers are left with hardly any power to bring about change themselves.

Even more interesting is the motivation for this law. It has nothing to do with customers’ rights. The French parliament is determined to reduce waste, especially food waste, for environmental and fairness reasons. The new legislation approaches the issue by obliging businesses to decrease the amount of waste they generate, ideally to zero. An initial law in 2012 has forced businesses producing more than ten metric tons of waste per year to diminish this volume.

On January 1st 2016, another step in this effort went into effect, requiring restaurants with capacities of around 150 to 200 people to find ways to diminish their waste. As one aspect of this campaign, it is suggested (although not obligatory) that large restaurants give out doggy bags (or, as the government has suggested calling them, “gourmet bags”). On the other hand, the reduction of waste is mandatory, and the doggy bag is the simplest way to do so.

During the COP21 climate conference held in Paris in December, the city of Paris launched its own campaign by making free deliveries of special boxes, meant to keep leftovers safely, to 100 Parisian restaurants. This and other incentives could bring about the charge faster.

Culturally speaking this is a revolution in France and it will be interesting to see how fast French society can change on this issue. Perhaps one day all French restaurants will offer doggy bags, not because of waste reduction laws but because French people expect it. We shall see, but it is worth paying attention to this development.

UPDATE REGARDING NOVEMBER 2015 Q/A: FRENCH LAW DOES NOT EASILY ACCEPT NAME CHANGES
The November issue presented the situation of an American woman whose first name on her passport did not match that on her birth certificate so the city hall in her French town refused to marry her using her passport name and would only issue a marriage license under her birth name.

Now we have some good news: when the prefecture got the French marriage license, which had a different name from the passport and the woman’s oldcarte de séjour, it chose to ignore the discrepancy and issued her a newcarte de séjour, based on her marriage to a Frenchman, using the name on her passport and previouscarte de séjour.

One might have worried that the discrepancy would create some problems. The French administration is very picky regarding this matter. French law pretty much forbids use of a name, whether first or last name, that differs from the birth certificate or marriage license name, unless it has been approved.

The prefecture’s decision illustrates quite well what I called “French law and its blind eye” in the July-August 2009 issue, trying to explain the French understanding of what is legal, illegal, and “tolerated.” 
A reader asked a question to which the answer was much more complicated than it might have seemed. The usual understanding in many countries is that what is not clearly defined as illegal is considered to be legal. This is as black and white as it gets, but it does not apply in France.

Here the prefecture chooses to ignore the law in favor of the individual, preferring common sense and avoiding making waves over the normal application of the law. This type of bending is critical for France, which has way too many laws and would be even more crippled by them if what I have called this “grey” system did not exist. Sometimes there are provisions that institutionalize personal evaluation of a situation, such as theopportunité des poursuites and therequalification des faits. The first, in criminal law, allows the state not to prosecute a proven criminal deed. The other is an attempt to fight a loophole in the law.

STATISTICS ON THE NUMBER OF FOREIGNERS LIVING IN FRANCE AND ON FRENCH NATURALIZATION
In December 2015 I addressed the issue of making it easier to obtain French nationality. Since then I have come across some data on which it is interesting to comment.

In January 2016, the Direction Générale des étrangers en France published data regarding foreigners living in France. Last year, 2,734,413 held an immigration ID granting a legal stay in France, i.e., atitre de séjour.This included EU citizens. Overall, the estimated number of all foreigners in France was 4 million. And 212,365 foreigners immigrated legally in France in 2015, a 0.7% increase from 2014. Also, 86,608 foreigners became French.

A little bit of background is needed to understand what happened. During the Sarkozy presidency, from May 2007 to May 2012, the policy was to restrict naturalization. In 2009 and 2010, 90,000 naturalizations occurred (the procedure takes about two years). But in 2013, the worst year, there were fewer than 70,000. Since then things have improved, almost reaching the level prior to the restrictive policy.

In 2015, 28,529 undocumented aliens in France obtained residency permits, down from 32,244 in 2014. And 26,700 people obtained political refugee status, up 22%. Most were Syrian or Sudanese, with 5,000 requests each. The approval rate increased by 33.3 % from 2014. However, the rate of success, including requests on appeal, was less than 32% in 2015, at 26,700 approvals for 79,130 requests. This is still very low, so refugees should decide early what they will do in the case of a definitive refusal.

For more information (in French), see www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2016/01/15/regularisations-demandes-d-asile-visas-les-chiffres-de-l-immigration-en-2015_4848157_3224.html

SHORT-TERM RENTAL AND THE PARIS CITY HALL RAIDS
On January 12th the Paris city hall launched another major raid in the 1st and 6th arrondissements to find short-term rental apartments.

Last May, 80 buildings were checked in three days in the Marais. On average, the city checks 400 to 500 apartments a year. In 2014, 20 owners were sentenced in court and the total fines for the year came to 560,000 €. The average fine is 10,000 € and the maximum is 25,000 €.

City hall claims the fines are way too low compared to the rent, which it says averages 1,000 € a week. It is asking the government to quadruple the fines so as to fight this problem more efficiently. Furthermore, the city plans to increase its team of inspectors from 20 to 25 people in the near future.

Currently the law allows an owner to rent out a primary residence no more than four months per year and the city clearly is not going after such people. Instead it is targeting people who rent out apartments all year round and in effect run a business this way. Paris has become the top destination for clients of Airbnb, which has about 50,000 apartments in the city advertised on its website. At the current rate of inspection it would take 100 years to check them all, so clearly the odds are still in favor of the short-term rental industry.

But if the maximum fine eventually reaches 100,000 € per sentencing, is it worth it to take the risk? Many owners would not have this kind of money.

For more information (in French), see www.lemonde.fr/immobilier/article/2016/01/12/a-paris-une-nouvelle-operation-coup-de-poing-contre-les-meubles-touristiques_4846091_1306281.html

CONSEQUENCES OF A TAX AUDIT FOR AUTO-ENTREPRENEURS AND, MORE IMPORTANT, TO THEIR SO-CALLED CLIENTS
Despite years of articles in the French media detailing the horrid consequences ofauto-entrepreneur status, it continues to be seen by the public as a wonderful solution. The tax authorities, URSSAF and labor inspectors are all working toward the same goal: determining whether eachauto-entrepreneur is really an independent worker. This means checking that each one has established a legitimate business with several clients and a real range of services, and a related fee policy.

Under the French legal concept called thelien de subordination, employees are defined as subordinates. If anauto-entrepreneur is not free to offer his/her services on his/her own terms, the inspectors have the right to requalify the person as an employee. The main consequence is a significant financial burden for the employer in terms of social charges. The newly defined employee is reimbursed for the social charges paid and the employer is charged the related taxes, since the amount paid is now considered net salary. As the sums were not paid on time, the inspectors add the usual late fees and interest. This can be lethal for the business and the employee is almost certain to be out of a job right away.

As I have explained several times, catching the companies that abuse the system is quite difficult. On the other hand, systematically checking theauto-entrepreneurs themselves is very easy and fast. One looks at their invoices: if the same name appears several times and constitutes the majority or sole source of income, the inspector knows that corporation can be nailed for fraud. There is no more need to search for a needle in a haystack.

• These are the points the inspector checks to evaluate the situation:
• How many clients: just one or several?
• Is theauto-entrepreneur a former employee of the company?
• Is the work organized by theauto-entrepreneur or by the so-called client?
• Is theauto-entrepreneur in a position to take initiatives and change the way the work is done?
• Does theauto-entrepreneur use his own material and equipment or that of the client?
• Does theauto-entrepreneur choose the schedule and location of his work?
• Does theauto-entrepreneur must report frequently to the client?

All this enables the inspector to determine how much the freedom theauto-entrepreneur has to perform the work. If there is not enough freedom, subordination is proved and the consequence isrequalification with its dreadful financial consequences for the employer. If the fraud is considered blatant, it becomes a felony, travail dissimulé (Article L. 8221-5 of the Code du Travail). The employer then faces three years in jail and a maximum fine of 45,000 €, above and beyond the tax bill explained above.

Now a new scam has appeared, just as horrid but harder to catch. Almost all employers, when hiring a new employee, require a trial period ranging from one to six months, during which the employer can dismiss the employee without giving any reason, although the employee is covered by French law in all other respects. But a growing number of employers, once the right candidate is chosen, require the relationship to start withauto-entrepreneur status instead of the regular trial period. The registration is quick and easy, and the person wants the job, so they register for the status. The employer can then ask for insane working hours without having to pay overtime and can keep theauto-entrepreneur on his/her toes the entire time. At the end of the contract, there may be no more need for theauto-entrepreneur who is dismissed after having been used and abused.

For more information (in French), see www.lemonde.fr/emploi/article/2016/01/20/travailler-avec-des-auto-entrepreneurs-attention-au-salariat-deguise_4850689_1698637.html

THE MOST COMMON SCAMS FRENCH LANDLORDS PULL ON TENANTS
Here are the most common scams of French landlords, according to data published in Le Monde. The link to the article is at the end of this section.

Some 2,500 emails received by the Confédération Générale du Logement in 2014 have been classified by topic.

• 1 – The most common complaint is the poor condition of the lodging, with factors such as severe dampness, water leaks, defective electrical systems and unsanitary living conditions. This represents 13% of the complaints and the share is growing, which shows that landlords are unwilling to do the minimum repairs needed.
• 2 – The second commonest complaint is failure to reimburse the security deposit, which accounted for 12% of the emails. In 95% of the cases, the landlord claimed repairs were needed as justification for keeping the security deposit.
• 3 -In third place is a sudden increase in condo charges that the tenant must pay. It is almost always accompanied by a demand to pay the past balance, which can go back several years. This represented 8.5% of the complaints. The bad news is that the money is owed since the tenant uses the services of the condominium.

For more information (in French), see www.lemonde.fr/argent/article/2016/01/07/locataires-contre-proprietaires-les-litiges-les-plus-courants_4843172_1657007.html

Best regards,

QUESTION

WHAT TO DO WHEN THE PREFECTURE ISSUES A WRONG DECISION

I live in Paris and am interested in buying self-defense articles like a lipstick stun gun and/or pepper spray (mobile phone, key chain or other form). I would like to know whether these are legal (at least for women) in France and where I could buy such items. Could I order online or do I need to find a store and buy with my ID? Some friends advised me to get them from the police. Also, are there professional training courses for self-defense in Paris for foreigners? 
If you could refer me to particular locations it would be greatly appreciated.

Feels Like Home is the second album by jazz-pop singer-songwriter Norah Jones, released in 2004. I have written many times about feeling at home in a foreign country, as well as going back to the country of citizenship where one grew up decades before, and not feeling at home anymore.

This issue mostly deals with changes in the law due to a European Union court decision regarding what is linked or not linked to “home”; or what is in legal jargon is referred to as the primary residence. This ruling also affects what is a French fiscal resident.

I stayed home in Paris the entire month of August, while everybody else went away. It is always an interesting experience being in such a busy city suddenly slowing down, invaded by tourists. On occasion I felt like a tourist myself.

The changes mentioned in this issue, especially those regarding the domicile, may at first seem minor. But their consequences are long reaching, affecting areas one would never thought of.

French real estate ruled by American estate law means that there is no need to create sophisticated corporate schemes to keep French properties under American estate law. Some people might see their business affected by that. In any case, this simplification is excellent news for people who want to buy real estate in the EU for leisure purposes. For once there is actual good news for them!

INTERNATIONAL ESTATES HANDLED DIFFERENTLY AS OF AUGUST 17th 2015
This seemingly minor change has consequences, that are enormous for non-French residents who own real estate in France. I need to explain the old rule in order to underline how radical this change is.

Before the change, all liquid assets in an estate were governed by the laws of the country of the decedent’s residence and all real estate by those of the country of the property’s location. This meant all US citizens owning a leisure residence in France had to bear in mind, when considering this property in their estate planning, that in France one cannot disinherit one’s children or spouse. The only way the French property could be governed by US estate law was to create a corporation, either French or foreign, and deed the property to it; the shares in this corporation were part of the liquid assets, and that was the only way to circumvent French law. The same went for American citizens who lived permanently in France and owned real estate in the USA: American estate law applied to such properties.

Now, as a result of a change in EU law, the entire estate is governed by the law in which the decedent legally resided at the time of death.

I want to illustrate this notion of legal residence to make sure it is clear. A foreigner dying of a heart attack inside the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport is not a French resident at the time of death. Nor is a foreigner who happens to die anywhere else in France while on vacation or business.

I will be very interested, though, to see if the rule regarding residency for the purpose of estate law is modified as a result of this EU regulation. For example what is the residency of a retired American citizen who does not hold any type of French immigration status but who spends exactly six months in France in two stays of three months each, and who has owned at least one piece of real estate in France for several consecutive years?

One reason the French administration may be tempted to define French residence broadly is the existence of liquid assets in the USA that will now fall under French law. One can easily see the need to seek the help of an expert in such matters, since France is reluctantly implementing an EU regulation. The question of how to define a primary residence will ultimately be settled at the international level, though it could be a very long time before a definitive ruling is made.

EU regulation 650/2012 of the European Parliament and European Council of July 4th 2012, effective as of August 17th 2015

MATERNITY LEAVE AND OTHER OFFICIAL TYPES OF LEAVE OF ABSENCE
French labor laws are often seen as incongruous by many. But foreigners who have been employed in France long enough see the benefits, not just the downsides. This is not to say that no American employer would ever grant similar benefits. The key difference here is that France makes the law and it is up to the employee to take advantage of it or not. American employers offer such perks as a way to please employees and consider the extra cost worth it to attract good workers. This attitude used to be quite common in the USA, both for blue-collar and white-collar workers. Today, the employer-employee relationship in the USA has considerably changed, with the salary and benefits too often seen as just part of production costs. There the difference has become even more striking. The legal nature of paid leave here is that it is not counted as vacation, but the employer does pay the employee for these days, even though no work was done. Maternity leave, which lasts at least sixteen weeks – six before the delivery and ten after – differs in this respect since the national health insurance pays instead of the employer.

Here are some notable examples of the types of leave of absence granted in France:

• – Four days for your wedding, whether it is the first one or a subsequent one,
• – Four days for registering your civil union (pacte civil de solidarité), which shows that the PACS is now treated almost like marriage,
• – Three days for the birth or adoption of your child,
• – Two days for the death of your child, your spouse or your civil partner,
• – One day for your child’s wedding,
• – One day for the death of one of your parents, siblings or parents-in-law.

It is interesting to see that more days are given for a wedding than a funeral.

As noted earlier, maternity leave lasts about four months, much longer than other types of leave of absence. Several parts of the French administrations get involved once a woman finds out she is pregnant. The doctor issues a document for the Caisse d’Allocations Familiales attesting to the pregnancy. Today the remit of the CAF is far broader than family well-being and it has become the main provider of French subsidies. The mother-to-be will receive some state money starting in the third month of pregnancy and continuing until the third month of the child’s life, as long as she goes to the doctor regularly and gets the relevant forms properly filled out. This is a very good way to make sure that prenatal care is well done.

Sometimes the doctor will put the mother on sick leave the last months of the pregnancy. French regulations require the woman to stop working six weeks before the delivery date and remain off work until the child is about three months old.

The mother can choose to stay home up to three years while receiving a supplemental subsidy from the CAF, and the employer must give her job back to her whenever she wants to go back to work, even she takes the entire three years.

This arrangement is part of a bigger picture including public infant daycare and access to preschool starting when the child is three.

Another benefit is that the father, like the mother, can take paternal leave of absence for up to three years. It is not very widely used, but the mentality is changing.

THE DEFINITIVE EXEMPTION OF NON-FRENCH INCOME FROM CSG AND CRDS
CSG and CRDS are taxes imposed on all income earned in France. For earned income they are collected as part of the social charges, either mentioned on the employee pay slip or included in the social charges for self-employed people. For all other types of income, notably investment portfolio income, the tax office sends a CSG-CRDS bill after all income is declared and the amount of taxes has been calculated.

The tax office has not taken into consideration the situation of foreign unearned income and has issued tax bills related to CSG-CRDS on such income. It was always possible to contest the bill and eventually have it declared void. But many people did not know this and assumed that they had to pay it.

The European Court of Justice ruled on February 26th 2015 that in so acting, the French tax office was illegally collecting money that was not owed and was defrauding people. The French government should reimburse these taxes, and one would hope that the software used to calculate them will be modified so it can take into consideration the origin of unearned income.

A NEW CARTE DE SÉJOUR HAS BEEN CREATED
Normally I wait until pending legislation has been passed and we have a track record at the prefecture before saying anything about new procedures. But it is quite possible that the prefecture will implement this law right away, in which case people could be taken by surprise. Therefore I prefer to talk about it even though the legislative process is not yet finished.

The Interior Minister has said that, for many foreigners living in France renewing the same «  carte de séjour » every year is a waste of time for both the applicant and the prefecture. The message we are getting is that the new type of card should be available much sooner than the carte de résident, which is available after five years of presence in France and is valid for ten years. This new card should be a lot easier to get and would last two to four years  so, close to the three-year card that already exists for the expat salarié en mission and for compétences et talents, for example.

My concern is that the prefecture systematically tends to harden the requirements and apply the strictest possible interpretation of the provisions in a given law. Therefore I see it as highly possible that for these new cards the prefecture will apply requirements close to those for the carte de résident, arguing that the law requires a stable lifestyle and adoption of French values.

These are exactly the provisions voted by the Assemblée nationale on July 21st:
“assiduité et du sérieux de sa participation aux formations prescrites par l’Etat dans le cadre du contrat d’intégration”
Being serious and eager to attend the courses demanded by the administration as part of the integration contract signed when first arrived
ne pas avoir “manifesté de rejet des valeurs essentielles de la société française et de la République.”
Not having shown any rejection of essential French values and the ones inherent the French republic

Other provisions seem a lot more straightforward and should be easily implemented as they require hardly any interpretation:

The spouse as well as the child of a French citizen would get the carte de résident after three years living in France (donne de plein droit au bout de trois ans pour les parents d’enfants français ou les conjoints de Français).

A new status called passeport talent, lasting four years, would replace the current cartes de séjour artistique, scientifique and compétences et talents ( passeport-talents , de quatre ans, qui remplacera la multitude de titres existants pour les étrangers qualifiés ou ayant une compétence particulière (artistes, scientifiques, sportifs).

This is far from a fait accompli. The legislative process is not over. The Sénat still needs to vote on it, and a conservative majority controls it. Therefore a lot could happen, and the result once the legislative process is over could be very different from what is described above.

There may also be a change in the political refugee procedure in an attempt to have it completed within a year and a half. This good intention might not be good news to the political refugee seekers as it is a lot easier to deny a request than to approve it. We will watch carefully to see what happens with the OFPRA procedure.

More information (in French) is available at  www.lemonde.fr/immigration-et-diversite/article/2015/07/22/l-assemblee-adopte-le-titre-de-sejour-pluriannuel-pour-les-etrangers_4693094_1654200.html

TAX OWED ON 2014 INCOME IS DUE SEPTEMBER 15th
The income tax payment schedule in France has three notable dates each year: February 15th, May 15th and September 15th. The system is set up so that on each of these dates, people pay part of the total tax due, usually in three approximately equal instalments. The first two payments are each equal to one-third of the taxes owed the previous year, since the tax collection agency, the Trésor Public, does not know the amount for the current payment year until it is notified by the Centre des Impôts, which receives the income declaration of the previous calendar year in the spring. There is a special office in the Parisian suburb of Créteil for residents of Paris. It used to be that these two divisions of the French fiscal administration had different locations. Today they all share the same buildings, but they still function as separate entities.

THE LINK BETWEEN THE FRENCH INCOME DECLARATION, THE TAXE D’HABITATION AND RENTAL INCOME TAXATION
The income tax declaration requires information about your primary residence; you must state whether you are the owner, a tenant or a guest. There is also a section to be filled out if you moved during the previous or current year. The fact that half of the front page is dedicated to the address shows how important this matter is to the tax office. Among other things, it enables tax officials to levy an appropriate taxe d’habitation(local tax) as well as what is called the -French TV tax- la redevance audiovisuelle in the autumn. A consequence very often neglected by renters is that filing an income declaration in France triggers the issuance of the taxe d’habitation and also the taxation of the rental income the landlord receives. There are so many dubious unwritten leases, sub-leases, cash rental arrangements and so on in Paris and probably other major French cities that many renters get into serious trouble with their landlord over having declared their income. This aspect of things is always overlooked unless a professional identifies the problem. It should not prevent people from doing the right thing, but it helps them get ready for the attack, which too often occurs after the landlord receives a summons to pay taxes on undeclared rental income, along with the associated fines and other penalties. One way of knowing where you stand is whether you paid the taxe d’habitationbefore you declared income for the first time. If you did, then there is no danger. If you did not and you have lived in your current place for a couple of years or more, this is a sign that your landlord is paying this tax and hopes the tax office will ignore that he has a tenant there.

Best regards,

QUESTION

DISCLOSING CONFIDENTIAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION TO A FRENCH BANK

I am French and I have been living in the USA for decades. Recently I was asked by my French savings and loan, the Caisse d’Epargne, for a pay stub and even a copy of my US tax report! I am not borrowing money from the Caisse d’Epargne and I have no intention of giving them what I consider very confidential information. Do you have any advice for me?

QUESTION

DRIVING IN FRANCE WITHOUT A VALID LICENSE

I now live on the Riviera after being in Paris for several years. I have always kept my Michigan driver’s license up to date and I thought that it was valid in France. Recently I was stopped by the police and they told me that I was driving without a license and this was a big deal in France. I panicked and expected a huge fine, to be taken to the police station a complete horror story. The policeman let me go, stating that this was a warning and I needed to shape up fast. I will try to go to Michigan in December to renew my license.